“Facing the mental strain from the causes of hardworking.”
Wood construction sculpture
This artwork is a wooden bust sculpture, made by me at school and during online lockdown for the Year 9 Term 3 SAP project. Our individual SAP projects had to incorporate either the school motto “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” or the theme of the art show “Impossible possible”. The concept I decided on contemplates the school motto, but solely reflects on the idea of mental faced through the efforts and effects of hardworking.
The bust is 30cm long and 30cm tall (12 cm wide) and it made entirely out of wood supplied from school, wood saws, chisels, wood glue and drills were used to make this artwork and obtain the shapes and facial features wanted. The bust displays a gender-neutral sculpture of a slightly uptilted face (not made to represent a specific culture, race, or gender), expressing an emotion of weariness, with cubes ranging from 1x1x1cm to 5x5x5cm and ranging from black to white colour emerging from a hole at the back of the head.
My intension for my artwork was to successfully display the school motto through symbolisation, but I also made it to explore a modern sight of mental health in everyday people, morally focusing on psychological behaviour and activities that go on within the mind. Mental health can affect lots of people around the world, and it’s important to know that everyone struggles differently and for different reasons, in relation to the school quote, I used my piece as a representation that hardworking in school, work, community etc can affect someone mentally, especially when they find themselves having to work harder than others. My hope would be that when audiences look at my piece, they’ll each react differently to what the meaning of my piece could be, and maybe feel an understanding towards the moods I’ve tried to convey.
The outer body of the bust is made out of wood and is kept same neutral colour of wood, and was made to resemble the features of a modern human, to emphasise a “strong” and “normal” appearance on the outside, while the dull, coloured cubes emerging from the mind draw attention to the concept of the artwork, representing the negative thoughts that can corrupt a person’s mind, contributing to the illusion that more happens inside the mind then what is seen on the outside.
I’ve had influences on my art such as Gil Bruvel, Darren Macpherson, and Dorothea Lange, who helped guide me towards the aim I wanted and be able to bring my artwork to life.