Felicia
Miclea
Metamorphosis in Art - A reflection
Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Salvador Dali -1937
In the recent year, I started crocheting as a hobby ,but it lead me to so much more than just a hobby. Now ,crocheting is part of my recent works. It allows me to create bodily shapes and volumes by just using yarn /fabric and a hook. Embracing every idea that comes to my mind I try to make shapes that relate to the spaces which I envision - a dream space ,a land ,a fragment of a memory blended with fantasy.
The dream space idea occurred to me when ,I made the ‘’how was your dream ‘’piece. It was a topic which I was scared to tackle before because I felt like I had to conform myself into one and first chosen style of making sculpture or installation. The journey of discovering what I want to create ,was as if I was switching from a style to another ,more like a hybrid practice ,to test what materials I like and what I don’t.
Colour is one of the essential puzzle pieces that lead me to explore the feeling freedom into making art. Before using colour ,I used to stick to monochrome colours ,grey black ,white and dark blue shades. At one point it felt like I was restricting myself from using colour ,having a set image into my mind of ,what great art looks like. In the time of discovering what style ,materials and mediums I like ,I slowly started using colour. What I really like about using colour into my installations is that it makes me feel joy excitement and ingenuity, similarly to a child’s first experience when they are painting with their hands on a wall .
In my current installation that I am working on ‘’ ‘’ I am putting my focus on accentuating a childlike essence into each of the individual pieces because my main interest with this piece is to bring back the child within ourselves and reconnect by remembering the audience to essence of creativity through colour and experimentation as craft . Taking this step ,it allowed my creative freedom to form and stabilise. Through this current installation ,I want to bring emphasis on the importance of intuitive part of creating art. Creation as a therapeutic activity rather than a feeling of obligation to fulfil the senses of productivity. Creativity flows when the forced productivity stops.
What made me be so interested about this topic is the world we live in today. The monotone and hectic life's that pass by while looking through our half grey -half pink sunglasses. Time moves fast, and we try to be faster ,we put our running shoes on to do as much as we can, task number 8 accomplished, …-now we look down on our shiny smartphone screens ,to realise that the day has already passed by and maybe you still feel like something is missing. Disconnected but connected online and probably surfing the internet because that is the only way we try to relax nowadays .
Did our society became a race ,that only stops on weekends ? …is what I was asking myself. How can that be changed through art and why do we feel disconnected ?
Ernesto Neto in a interview with Fondation Beyeler said :
‘’The art represents the time we are living ,if the time is a very high spiritual time ,it’s going to be a high spiritual time . If you are in a high material time the art is going to be high material .Everything is changing all the time’’
When I started using crochet as main technique in my practice and experimenting with fabric ,I was still reluctant to use yarn to make art because ,the material and techniques are mostly used in the fashion industry and traditional craft of making clothing . However as I was experimenting with the different shapes and colours of the material I have came to the conclusion that art doesn’t need to look pretentious or luxurious ,and it doesn’t need to be untouched , in fact it needs to be experienced by the audience.
Taking crochet from it’s clothing making purpose ,I was intrigued to start looking at the division and rules we have made to keep in balance the way of things. As I see how art changes gradually going on a more comfortable peace with our own way of making art, there is still art that it’s protected on it’s high value of perfection. The question is : Who decides what is art?
Can art just exist by itself and be appreciated without being priced and kept as a precious object ?
‘’As more something is protected the more value it’s receiving….And what it’s going on in the art today?’’
‘’What is the good art ?The one that has a higher price no ,that’s how we give the gold medal to the art ,by pricing it.’’
Understanding the steadiness of life - Process Research
I stated this installation with a rough sketch ,using shapes that intrigued me and a colour palette that suggested the idea of playfulness and safety . The installation is inspired by aquatic and terrestrial beings such as corals ,fish ,jelly fish ,insects ,flowers and fruits . The idea of incorporating these shapes into my work came with my fascination in nature and ambiguous shapes that are perfectly achieved in our natural world ,present far away from our chaotic city life. What was and it is still impressing me is the evolution process of the insect world ,metamorphosis .
Looking at the subconscious mind ,I started questioning if humans could also go through a metamorphosis process , a subconscious one and a conscious one . Since Metamorphosis means transformation ,how could we as human transform while the world is taking steps into seeing us more as machines?
Humans are Hommo sapiens and it is in our nature to develop ,evolve and create however our world has been conditioning our thoughts ,own wants and needs as human beings .While we go through a metamorphosis of the mind and bodies we have learned to adapt and learned to live by the terms of the world ,and this metamorphosis of our minds is beneficial to survive in stressful environments.
The book ‘’The Metamorphosis’’ by Franz Kafka it is a good example ,it gives it’s readers a good view into the life of busy business man which is seen as the provider in the family until his physical character changes while he goes through a period of time where he is not useful anymore into the society .Because he transforms into an insect .From being helpful into the society and reaching it’s family expectations the main character ,is dealing with emotions of alienation and loneliness once he goes through this transformation. The bug is being used as a symbol of burden ,once freed from the society’s responsibility, while also symbolising ,remorse and fear projected from his family on to him.
“Oh, God”, he thought, “what a strenuous career it is that I’ve chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there’s the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them.
‘’And for a little while he lay still, breathing lightly as if he expected total repose would restore everything to its normal and unquestionable state.”
This phrase made me think of our body response , the freeze mode, where our environment thoughts and experiences have been overwhelming us internally and thus bodies try to keep us in a safe state by not moving and just breathing . The concept of contained energy appeared.
‘’The clock in his room not only signifies the menchanisation of the human existence and the creation of the automato,but also announces the re-turn-of-the body ‘’
In the story symbols of the mechanical time are present such as the clock ,where it is used by the character to be in time for his daily schedule. This shows that every human being with a job schedule is remindedby the present time on our devices to follow the ritual of getting ready for work.Thus the clock can be a symbol of control that defines the human being.
Being aware of the changes that the world has gone through ,from fighting for freedom to accepting and adjusting ourselves to fit into the societies expectation of productivity and success ,there are more and more artists who make art, not to impress but for the people to experience their work ,with no rules and no justification ,and I feel like that’s how art making should be.
Carl Jung says in his book ‘’The Red Book’’ : ''Man strives towards reason only so that he can make rules for himself. Life itself nas no rules. That is it’s mystery and it’s unknown .What you call knowledge is an attempt to impose something comprehensible on life’’ .