AIR AS A MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION IN SCULPTURE

ABSTRACT

Artists are inspired in many ways from several things they see in their environments, such as objects and through their activities with those objects. Artistic inspiration may also come from such things as weather, thoughts, feelings, mood, words etc. It is the strength of the artist to make conceptual feeling concrete. In this instance, the artist has selected air as a medium of expression in sculpture.

Air as an inevitable aspect of life, we use air everyday to sustain our lives. A number of things we have in our homes, offices, and industries etc, either function by air or function to make breeze is also a product of air. People are still researching for more findings on how to manipulate air to produce more things. Air is endowed with interesting qualities; though it is neither seen nor touched but it can be manipulated with either natural or mechanical (artificial) devise to obtain shapes, forms or movement. It is these qualities that attracted the artist attention. Air itself is not seen, but through its manipulations we can obtain shapes, forms and movement to form an interesting sculpture. There are more challenges on the idea of air as a medium of expression, hence this studio research is undertaken to give attention to air as its implication as a creative medium.

In the process of this research, the artist studied the shapes, forms, and attitude air takes when it  is manipulated with various devices; while trying to understand the artistic problems that surround this project. Literature and research works done on air projects were reviewed. Those who have done considerable works, with similar experiences expected on this project were studied and the studio works were produced based on the objective of this study. The research and the studio experiments were package in five chapter report.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

If one reflects on air, one may wonder about the mysteries of it. It is neither seen nor touched; yet it is the basic element of life. Without air, life will not be possible in any form. Air can simply be defined as “the mixture of gases that surround the atmosphere”. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2007) and Encarta Encyclopaedia 1999 explained these gases to include nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, hydrogen and small quantities of neon, helium and other inert gases.

The scientist has experimented on air and has applied it in the medical field in certain situations. For instance, artificial air is at times administered to patient for therapeutic purposes before surgical operations. It is also used with breathing apparatus for the safety of those that work in certain environment such as under water, refineries and chemical plants. Besides, it is used in the process of air conditioning in industries, offices, public and some private homes to regulate machine and body temperature. Other ways air is used industrially include welding (where  it  is  combined with  gas  to  produce  welding  scarfing  flame,  flame  clearing,  flame hardening and flame straightening); manufacturing of steel (combustion temperature in blast furnaces and open hearth furnaces as well as replacing coke with other combustible materials during steel making processes) carbon oxides, which leaves as gases.  In the making of chemical pulps. Mill-oxygen is added into combustion air to increase the production capacity of the soda recovery boiler  and  the  lime-reburning kiln.  Again,  the  use  of air  as  oxygen reduces  the

discharge of sulfur pollutant into the atmosphere and in other sense, permits increased capacity in existing treatment of plants. Injecting oxygen into severs reduces hydrogen sulfide formation.

In the area of art, artists have explored air and come up with what is known as air sculpture. Their works in this direction are usually referred to as air art and air installation. They are intermedia and time-based art forms in which sculpture or any kind of object(s) takes form or react to the effect of air (in the sense that air is manipulated in such a way as to create a sculpture or oppose form or mass).

Air as a medium of expression in sculpture is based on the idea that objects are affected by the action of air, which may result to inflatable, wind and sound sculpture. The action of air may either  be  mechanically manipulated through electricity,  steam engine or  using  natural phenomena such as wind or wave powered. According to a British based electronics group established in the 1990s, air sculpture is seen as a reaction to music scene that no longer reflect the tastes. The energy and edge of 70s has become diluted into a malange clinical digital sound play. Air Sculpture (2008) explained that air sculpture is created to bring much excitement or comfort as state-of-the-art lighting or sound. The term “air sculpture” was coined to convey the idea that a scene is built exactly like a sculpture. Different refined facets and volumes are combined to represent a whole world of impression in a 3 dimensional delightful reality.

The  use  of air  in  art  could  be  likened to  some of the  things that  happen in  our environment such as the diffusion of the blue sky that may be cloudy and rainy. Sometimes we observe wind storm that causes damages and landscape devastation. For instance, the wind storm, peaked at166km per hour known as ‘Dericho’ occurred in northern Minnesota in the United State of America in July 4th, 1999 and blew down thousands of trees and causing several damages to buildings.   There are also times when we see birds flying from one

direction to another; feeding, breeding and avoiding predators. When we communicate to people that are far from us through internet, telephone or telex, and when we listen to news through radios and televisions, we utilize air born technologies because these information services are possible as a result of the presence of air in the atmosphere.

The discovery of kite by the Chinese in 400BC, which was used to celebrate religious ceremonies, create fun and test weather conditions, perhaps, led to the realization of the relevance of air as a medium of expression. This is because the nature of kite was important to the invention of flight as the forerunner to balloon and gliders. Over the centuries, human race had tried to fly like birds. Wings made of feathers or light weight wood had been attached to arms to test if they can aid man in flying. The result was often disastrous as the muscle of the human are not like those of the birds. The desire to fly eventually led Leonardo Da Vinci  to draw the sketches of an aircraft (Encyclopaedia Americana A volume 1 p. 409). Incidentally, the dream represented in his sketches only came through in the first decade of

the 20th  century when the Wright brothers, Ovilles and Wilbor, produced the first flying

machine.

Perhaps, air as a medium of expression in sculpture was adopted in the 1950s simultaneously with kinetic sculpture. This is because, most kinetic sculptures tend to be air sculptures. Muller (2007) observed that the essence of air sculptures is to designate works and put them into movement by the wind, spectator and/or some motorized mechanism. Recorded facts on air sculpture refer to the work of  George Rickey’s organic shapes, which was used to activate air current; the mobile  sculpture of Alexander Calder that was hung on a ceiling and slowly moved with the current of air in a room; the kite of Curt Asker that dangle with wind objects; the inflatable package of Christo Javacheff; the metal ring disc of

Ralfonso  Gschwend that  rotate on wind  attraction; the  inflatable/deflatable sculpture of Jonathan Monk and the sound sculpture of Dennis Bathory-Kitsz (such as the interactive piece echo of (1985) which he used hand-made instrument to produce).

1.2  STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Though attempt have been made by several artists to manipulate air for sculpture purposes, adequate emphases are yet to be made on air as a medium of expression in sculpture. Calder, Rickey, Asker, Javacheff, Gschwend, Monk and many other artists have indeed produced air sculptures but their works are mostly associated with current and movement. It seems they were usually preoccupied with the thinking of how their works could be animated by air to create sensuous ‘life’. To explore air sculpture further, several problems can be determined and posed as the following questions:

What new possibilities can locally available materials offer for air sculpture? What types of air diverse will be used with such material?

How can variations in form or movement be achieved using particular materials? and How  can  air  sculpture be  appropriately situated with  the  fronts of global  warming campaign?

1.3  OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this research is generally aimed at finding a possible way of adopting air into sculpture through the use of mixed-media technique and locally available materials. It is specifically:

To explore various types of air manipulation with locally available materials.

To observe the form an object will take when affected with air in order to determine the effectiveness of the material in use for air sculpture.

To  explore objects that  can be  moved or  inflated  by air  in order to  determine the effectiveness of such object in environmental change campaign.

To document all the finding and recommendations of all the technique and media used in this study for future researchers.

1.4    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study is limited to the exploration of, natural and artificial air to result in inflatable and wind sculpture, in relation to their effect and forms. The media to be explored include rubber tube, Styrofoam, polythene, fabrics, textile off-cut, ribbons, net, plastic bottle, metals, foam, CD plate, and other readily available materials.

1.5  SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study: ‘Air as a Medium of Expression in Sculpture,’ will be significant, firstly to the artist who will be satisfying his curiosity about the working of air as a medium of expression in sculpture. To the public, the studio products can serve aesthetic purposes, while the interpretation of the works could be used as a tool for social engineering, engaging the instrumentalist essence of art to  comment on social issues or even create awareness about phenomena that may be elusive to the public. This research is environment friendly and will promote the government’s waste management culture because some of the materials to be used are scavenged from the so-called waste products. To the students and researchers, it will serve as basis for further research.

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