Life is a gamble and so is the creative process. Taking a risk and trying something new can be nerve wracking. I think the possibility of failure leads some artists to find a style and theme and stick with it.
I think every piece should be different as I bore quite easily. It's exciting if I don't know what I'm are doing till it's done. Just starting with a direction and casting the die to see what the outcome will be. I just have to trust in myself that as I encounter problems along the way I will be able to resolve them and make it look like the finished piece was all based on a master plan and not the collection of mistakes I make along the way. Keeping the creative process running all the way through keeps the piece enjoyable and not just a chore to be finished because I have already done the brain work.
Every fault has a fashion
What's the worst that can happen, I have a complete failure and nobody gets what I was trying to make. But in that failure many lessons and inspirations are to be found. A faint heart never won a fair maiden and all that jazz.
I don't know if that makes sense but it has been my approach to most of the work I do. Fear of failure can lead to blandness. Now that is not to say I have a great ratio of success to failure, just that It wholeheartedly keeps me enjoying what I do. If others like it than that's a big bonus and I feel like I am getting somewhere.
The gambler
This is one such sculpture that maybe wasn't the best success but I had some interesting ideas stemming from it. It was created along with Niall Magee and Fergus Mulvany in Travenmunde, Germany as part of a large sand sculpture festival. We were asked to do something about a famous Casino in the area, not something that gave great inspiration for us. We decided we would play a little and each come up with our own perspectives on it as to what elements we thought were the most important. For my part I made the dice table and thought to play with extreme forced perspective and trying to illustrate the action of the dice.
I had never seen anything like this tried before and was interested to see if it was possible to change peoples viewing angle and also give the piece a slice of time.
Proof is in the pudding
I suppose the viewer would be the best judge if it worked or not. But for me this sculpture got me thinking of other possibilities in sculpture. Showing time and movement and also giving the sculptures a sweet spot as to where they should be viewed from. In essence turning a 3D object into a flat image of a 3d object.
As I show more of my work in the coming months you will probably see certain motifs repeat as I try to work out these techniques and learn a visual language.
There was some other great work at this project with lots of Architecture. This is one area I have never been interested in with sand and that is making sand castles. But fair fucks to the people who can and do.
Ps
It's been just over a year since I started blogging in Steem and I'm so happy to have found that it is something I really enjoy. I will write a little post about my experience so far and of course continue to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor. Below you will find some of my recent posts. Thanks for stopping by.
Eureka - sand sculpture
Spiderbaby - sand sculpture
Sea tales - sand sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon.
@ammonite