Last year was a big one for me and art! My Master of Art degree started to pick up the pace, and I ended up making some fun stuff. Here’s a look at some of the highlights.
The Colours of Mount Fuji
This work came about through an exercise in exploring colour. Each season and time of day matches up with a temperature and style of palette. You can read more about it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/colours-of-mount-12462757
It has now been framed!
“Animal Affinity”
This series of A1 prints was the result of a semester of experiments in line and mark, exploring ways in which I could expressively communicate my relationship with my dogs. Originally, I had planned to use some kind of traditional medium, but I ended up working digitally after I realised that my main forms of self-expression are through writing and my voice. This lead to me composing my images using recordings of me speaking about my dogs, with the words placed inside the graphical waveforms and overlaid onto a digitally processed photograph. You can see more here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/animal-affinity-12718630
A Post-Apocalyptic Picnic
With North Korean tensions flaring up, I became very interested in our nuclear history as well as the potential ramifications of wars that could lead to human extinction. The artwork I created as a result looks at how nature would reclaim urban areas in our absence, as it has done in abandoned cities such as Pripyat, post-Chernobyl. For more detail and discussion, click here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/post-apocalyptic-13147391
Microplastics
Another issue that I became curious about last year was the environmental impacts of microplastics. Many people are now aware of microbeads, which had become common in cleansers and cosmetics before being banned, but it also turns out that plastic in synthetic fabrics – microfibers – are a much bigger problem. To highlight this issue, and as part of an exercise in repetition, I created small sheep out of natural clay, covered in small, plastic Fimo beads instead of wool. Read more about it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/microplastics-14072023
Copper Jewellery for the Post-Apocalypse
This is easily my favourite work from last year. As you can see, the post-apocalyptic theme has been on my mind! But this time I took a fantastic course in jewellery, and was given the freedom to explore all the possibilities of copper, including various methods of colouring and texturing it. This set of jewellery is designed with utilitarian goals in mind, as a way to justify the existence of decorative items in a world of survival and scarce resources. The ocean plays a big part in my imagined future. You can read more here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/copper-jewellery-14370673
Mood Cards, 2/8/17 – 22/9/17 (Surface Exhibition)
©2017 Edmond Thommen, all rights reserved
I blogged about this last time, but didn’t really say much about my work! My Mood Cards project was a response to my depression and the day to day struggles with my fluctuating emotions. Every day for 52 days, I painted a randomly drawn card according to what I was feeling that day. One of the cool things about it is that it really helped me explore some more experimental and expressive styles of creativity. And at the end of it all, it was really cool to see it go up in an exhibition that we organised as a class! I’ve written a bit more here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/surface-15002508, but much more detail about this work is available to patrons who subscribe to my Patreon for $1/month. If you’re interested, I would really appreciate it if you signed up, it helps so much to have you become more involved in my creative journeys! ^_^
Many thanks to Edmond Thommen for the pictures of my work at Surface Exhibition!
©2017 Edmond Thommen, all rights reserved
Noise Art Project 2017
Despite my hiatus from music, I also managed to create some sound-based art! The concept behind it was about breaking rules, from the sourcing of the sound, right through to playing it on four speakers instead of two (the video is a stereo approximation). You can read more about my thinking and process here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/noise-art-2017-15446541
Etching 2017
Another class I did last year was all about etching! It was an interesting experience working with everyone in the Cicada Press studios. We did two projects, “Alter Ego” and “An Australian Bestiary”. The animal I chose for that last one was the drop bear! Heehee. You can see more of our work and a bit about the process here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/etching-2017-15492590
My First Oil Painting
I actually started this one before I began my masters, after my uncle gave me his old oil painting supplies. However, once I started studying, I had to take a break (and oil takes so long to dry anyway) and didn’t come back to it until last year. It was a challenge, but I’m actually pretty happy with how it came out! Just wish I had a proper studio space for it, oil is a bit impractical for my current situation. Check out my process here, including my initial mistakes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/15940999
Relic of a Toxic Future
This was another jewellery project, again thinking about a post-apocalyptic world, but this time it ties in with an upcoming music project that I’ve been working on. You can read more about the purpose and the symbolism here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/relic-of-toxic-16632068
Wearable Art
This was my first time making wearable art! It was a good bit of fun. Not particularly practical, but I love it anyway and it photographed well. I’ve been putting a lot of artsy images on Instagram lately, both of creepy work I’ve done and of my gothic outfits. If you’d like to see more, check it all out and follow me here: https://www.instagram.com/destroyermariko/
Broken Innocence (Performance Art) 2017
You’ll notice a lot of broken/repaired toys on my Instagram account. They eventually formed the basis of my performance art piece last year. It was pretty nerve wracking, I’m used to music performance, not art performance, but it meant a lot to me. If you’ve signed up to support me on Patreon, you can see more about the performance here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/15538432
That’s all for now!
There were some other works I did last year, so I may post them up at some stage, but for now I hope you’ve enjoyed an overview of all my work so far! Tonight I’ll also be heading back to Mosman Art Gallery, where another one of my artworks has made it into the Artists of Mosman exhibition! I’ll be sure to show you that artwork soon as well (it’s also from last year). Sorry about the length of this blog btw, I’ll try to be better about posting more often this year! In the meantime, you can keep up with all my creativity across the internet at the links below. See you next time!
Links!
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/destroyermariko
Just want to send a one-off tip? https://www.paypal.me/MarikoGray
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DestroyerMariko
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destroyermariko
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DestroyerMariko
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DestroyerMariko
DeviantArt: http://destroyermariko.deviantart.com/
My bands:
Rainbow Death Ray on Bandcamp: https://rainbowdeathray.bandcamp.com/
Rainbow Death Ray’s website: http://www.rainbowdeathray.com/
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