X Project

Finally back at art school for my 2nd year. We were launched in right away with a one week project using the brief from the annual Tapirulan illustration competition. The theme this year was "X". I focussed on the idea of the unknown and that we know more about outer space than we do about the deep sea, which appealed to me as both fascinate me.

I started thinking about the similarities between the deep sea and outer space and the humans that explore them - both are inhospitable, alien environments, humans are buoyant in these settings, and deep sea divers and astronauts are somewhat similar aesthetically as well as in terms of what they do. I started playing around with pictures of divers from a book I have and making them look like they were in space through painting and collage.

I found a picture in an old encyclopaedia which I found interesting, it was a diagram of Ptolemy's geocentric model of the universe. I thought that tied in nicely with the unknown, as it made me reflect on advances in our knowledge, and also the fact that in several hundred years our theories for the universe may look outdated and ridiculous too. I also liked the concentric circle design and decided to include it in some collages.

I liked the concentric circles and how they tied in with motion capture photos of stars, shoals of fish and so on. I toyed with the idea of coral looking like planets/moons and the holes looking like craters.

I continued to make collages in this vein. I particularly like the one below right, with the bell jar as a metaphor for the universe and the diver as a metaphor for "God".

I briefly digressed into the bell jar idea, and also into the idea of the Bermuda triangle which wasn't so successful. The timescale of this project was definitely a struggle for me as it was difficult to resolve such a short project.

Next week I'm going to try screen-printing some of the images I made and hopefully bring the project to a close.