Yarn Bombing - Cop 17

At the end of Last year i helped out in erecting some of the yarn in and around the city of durban. This was in conjunction with the collective Art  gallery and was commissioned by the Durban city council which took place over the duration of the cop 17 conference.

This photograph was taken on Botanical Gardens road Durban South Africa.

It had been a while since i had collaborated with any one. In a way it was like dressing the city with a type of textile based Jewellery. Overall it was a pretty rad experience!

This image features Amy Jo Windt, Lisa Loo herselman, and Sayuri  Naidoo, a runner, and a bystander.

Subversion

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Subversion, means to undermine established system or government.Many times in previous posts, i have mentioned that, i would seize and object usually found objects and appropriate it into my own work. I would feel the need to paint  it because i wanted to change its visual qualities, however i think it goes beyond changing its visual qualities for simply aesthetic purposes. What im actually doing is subverting it, and Jamming it, so that it no longer functions as society intended it to function. Some of the found objects i use were once mass marketed  and now its not. Its jammed, its subverted and takes on a whole new meaning.

Split piece - Malcom X

So stoked, i finally finished the Split piece of Malcolm X inspired by banksy's description of "whatever means necessary". Banksy was referring to the process by which street art is created. Malcom X, used that same line in a speech, but the parallel is that it is also an ode to "Bricolage". 

Bricolage defined is "Use what you have where you are in any given environment.

Ive made a frame for the six bracelets, each constructed from a humble variation of materials consisting of aluminum, aerosol paint, record vinyl,copper and silver.

Its ironic because i keep forgetting it is six separate pieces of jewelry, and i keep viewing it as one piece or as a small sculpture.

If you battling to make out the image, squint your eyes. Ive noticed that when you view the display from a distance, the image of Malcolm X is rather noticeable, which is a good thing, as it will draw the viewer closer, and hopefully they will be able to identify with the idea that its actually six cuff bracelets.

The copper catch mechanisms create a slight division between the upper and lower panels of each bracelet, and next time, i would definitely rather stack them side by side like this.

I may experiment next time with perhaps secret encoded messages that can only be read when bought together, or continue with other imagery.

Sustainable living Exhibition - Buckles (Plug-ins)

The definition of Plug- in is:

plug-in

adjective

able to be connected by means of a plug : a plug-in telephone.

• Computing (of a module or software) able to be added to a system to give extra features or functions : a plug-in graphics card.

I especially like the part that says "able to be added to a system to give features or functions" Its feels like this process involves more of breaking away from a "System" to give extra features and functions,  Those functions are wearable art made from found objects, jammed and extended into jewelry.

Anyway here are  two buckles i constructed from the plug. I like the idea of them being smaller, and hopefully they will have wider appeall.

To create an interesting visual contrast i used yellow paint, thats what i had and thats what i used.I just wanted to make it more appealling. Im not so happy with the tiny bubbles. Big bubbles are acceptable but these little surface bubbles are driving me crazy.

I really need to invest in some new colours. I admit i've over done it with this purple.I used a piece of microchip to make a kind of "visual switch" to fill the empty cavity.

Something of relevancy which relates to Street art which has evolved in my research is the way in which i approach creating work.Its very, freestyle, improvised, hands on, DIY. I like it, Its like three dimensional anarchy! 

In the words of Steve Powers, graffitti artist and member of the barnstormers, he explains that when he works, he just calls it as he sees it, meaning things just unravel and each piece is created in a very spontaneous fashion.

Graffiti and street art has a relationship to bricolage, of "use what you can wherever you are in any given environment" Creativity just manifests and then you kind of release it in the moment.

Drum n Bass

Kj Sawka is a human drum machine

Ring Ring

Hello this is Glenn speaking..................................

I constructed this ring using a combination of traditional materials and found objects.

I used silver as outer walls and submerged pieces of tin from paint tins.

With no real planning i threw in a cubic zirconia as well.

Initially when i made the ring, i was not sure how i felt about it. Now that I have photographed it and looked at it again,i think there is an interesting tension between the precious metal, and the random floating bits of debri. 

 im contemplating developing it further, by potentially making a series of rings.

It would be nice to expand my designs into other design variations. Ive constructed, belts, buckles and earrings using found objects , but i think to develop a range of rings using found objects combined with silver.

Could be exciting to explore these possibilities further.

Cheers.

Sustainable living Exhibition - Buckles.

Fellow Jewellery designer Nick Rose and i were donated scrap metal from a Durban company called Chicks scrap metal.

We have been commissioned to construct some works using the materials kindly donated by this etablishment.

We paid a vist  to this scrapyard one Satuarday morning and were free to roam and collect what ever materials we felt necessary.

I stumbled apoun an old plug point which i am currently cutting up to make some more belt buckles.

Ive been wanting to make more buckles for a while now, but i am going to make them smaller than the size of a tape.

Previously i intended to make smaller sizes so i made a mould with smaller dimensions to facilitate smaller found objects.

I like the tape buckles that Ive been making but i want to try making variations of sizes that are slightly toned down that might appeal to a slightly more refined personallities. Mabee we could view it as being Loud and soft at the same time.

Im thinking of keying out the red detail and painting the backround just to make it more fun. Theres an infinite amount of things i could do to enhance its visual quallities. 

Like all good spontaneous approaches i think im just going to live in the moment and let things unravel as they should.

Im thinking Im going to call them Plug-ins. Its a relevant word that relates to technology and speaks of the now.