Curatorial

“...every shape, every bit of natural form, animals, people, pebbles, shells, anything you like are all things that can help you to make a sculpture.” - Henry Moore

My model draws precedents from two sources similar in their employment of fluid form, one being a work of art, the other an accomplished piece of design. Reference to natural geometries can be identified in both Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure and Zaha Hadid’s Jesolo Magica which ooze with streamlined fluidity. Their forms are organic and dynamic and have a sense of familiarity without being representational (McAvera, 2001). This is only enhanced by their play between solid and void, concave and complex and gorgeous tactile stretch like a vine (Hadid, n.d.). In particular, for Hadid’s Jesolo Magica fluid form is integral in its concept. It is dynamic and changing but coherent.

Pulling apart both precedents and sketching their simplest forms revealed elements of repetition and hierarchy. In Jesolo Magica, shapes reminiscent of bananas or boomerangs overlap like a weave. Looking across Moore’s Reclining Figure, the eye is drawn to a centre mass with curves very like those of teardrops or flower petals. These attributes have been incorporated into my final model. These are very much stimuli for its design.

Surface perforations add texture to Jesolo Magica, helping to accentuate its winding, flowing bodies. My initial concept was to connect articulated plates like an armadillo shell to exploit the same idea, that by breaking up the curve it is highlighted. It turned out to be a case of material dictating design, as manipulating the plastic in this way proved very tough going to say the least. The problem was resolved by substituting plates for strips and I believe more aesthetic.

It is the final result of a metamorphic process, of simplification which appears to make it all the more natural.

Citations

Hadid, Z. (n.d.) Jesolo Magica. Retrieved from http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/jesolo-magica/

McAvera, B. (2001, July) The Enigma of Henry Moore. Sculpture Magazine, Vol.20 No.6. Retrieved from http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag01/julaug01/moore/moore.shtml