Saturday, April 12, 2014

Motif Sketches



Today I decided to develop a sensibility for some of the motifs I will be making models of by doing detailed sketches. I drew a goat because it seems to be a recurring image in paintings of a biblical nature, representing the scapegoat which is slaughtered to redeem sin. I think there can also be some ambiguity between the goat and the lamb as the lamb frequently appeared within the excerpts I took from the Book of Revelation as the being who will judge at the end of all days. I also did a study of a moth as an example of memento mori imagery (particularly as seen in Shoufay Derz's work). It symbolises death and mortality. Both these creatures I intend to make small scale models of and include in the diorama I will make as just a couple of many signifiers. 

At this stage I am less inclined to make paintings indicating temporal stages of an apocalypse and its aftermath, and more inclined to explore the ideas of Margaret Atwood in stating that there is no clear distinction between a dystopia and a utopia, there is always aspects of one within the other. Therefore it will be more interesting to bring all the motifs I have researched together into the one image to highlight the dependence of these terms on each other, but ultimately the artificiality of their construct as only existing within art and language.

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