Welcome to the Blog
Here you’ll find (fairly) regular posts ranging from updates on my work to thoughts on various topics. To kick things off here is a selection of some of the work I did back in my Uni days. Also, I’ll stick some links at the bottom for people interested in learning more.
Pan
I made the three images to the right as what was intended as a cohesive series exploring various elements of the Uncanny, and while I do not consider this to have been a complete success aesthetically, I do appreciate what I was aiming at looking back all these years later.
I could see myself returning to parts of this project, and approaching them with the knowledge and experience I now have, especially the central image of Pan.
I don’t know if I would approach it as a straight painting, or if I’d sculpt it again first, to use as a reference for the painting.
The images themselves were compiled from multiple renders of digital sculptures I created using a combination of ZBrush, Maya, and Blender. If I recall properly a digital scan of my own face was the starting point for the Pan sculpture, although it rapidly changed from my own face pretty much from the outset. It was also used as part of the basis of the Sleepyhead image.
I really found the notion of 3d facial scanning to be fabulously Uncanny, acting as a sort of Digital Life Mask. I wish I still had it.
Part of the puzzle I was navigating with this project was working out how I could create a digital sculpture (which in this case was a hollow piece of 3d geometry, and not voxels), and then use it as a basis for a digital animation replicating a timelapse of a traditional sculpting process. I’m pleased with the results knowing the journey it took for me to get there.
For an idea of the kind of thing I was writing about back then, I’ve put a copy of each of the abstracts from both my Honours and my Masters Degree Dissertations below.
Art in the Age of the Uncanny
Masters Dissertation 2010
Abstract
This study seeks to examine the phenomenon of the Uncanny, and how it relates to artistic practice. It will show how the Uncanny has an evolutionary tie to humanity1, and how this relationship has greatly influenced art since the Enlightenment2. This study will also explore the Uncanny nature of technology, such as photography, film, and computer graphics. In doing so, it hopes to provoke further thinking on the topic through discussion of some of the subtle ways the Uncanny impacts on contemporary culture.
1 Jentsch, E. 1906 (in Jentsch, E. 1997).
2 Royle, N. 2003.
Public Nightmare; Documentation of the Fears of Society through Horror Cinema
Honours Dissertation 2006
Abstract
Of all the genres of film, the one which has caused the greatest controversy has been horror. Although this is the case, many scholars hold it in contempt, and will not provide the time to give it serious analysis. This celebrated and despised genre has much to offer outside of its stereotyped limitations, and the subtexts contained within have much to say about society and the self. Through Freudian analysis many political and personal responses to world events can be unveiled. This work seeks to analyse the narrative metaphor of films from within different sub-genres of horror cinema and from different eras in order to highlight ways in which the fears of culture have changed, and how these changes have been reflected in the films of the times. In addition, this work will look at various films from outside the realm of horror cinema in order to show that they are in fact true contemporary horrors. Finally, a study of how various films have used audio-visual metaphor and cinematic techniques to create disturbing, terrifying scenarios will be carried out.