Scholarship – 2010:
Sculpture (93308)
Examples of Candidate Work
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OUTSTANDING SCHOLARSHIP
This submission is noteworthy for the manner in which this student has embraced a strategy that
has a high risk factor in terms of how the submission could be read and interpreted. Taking a
simple subject like ‘commonplace rocks’, a variety of different situational scenarios are
suggested through image and text. The value of this sculptural investigation is understood in the
portfolio submission and workbook as a holistic entity rather than any case made for the
worthiness of a specific work. The workbook significantly reveals the intelligence and
knowledge the candidate has in regards to contemporary sculptural concerns, using a broad
ranging discussion and analysis to identify and comment upon the variety of different genre
within the field. In this regards, the submission reads as a somewhat wry commentary that uses a
sense of humour to convey the depth of understanding the student has of contemporary
sculptural practice. A great deal of this understanding has been conveyed through analysis and
discussion within the workbook, providing depth and substance.
The candidate has begun the portfolio by thinking around different types of plinths and modes of
presentation that playfully deal with conventions surrounding the collecting and displaying of
art. Similarly the candidate exhibits a consciousness around ‘aesthetics’ as philosophy, dealing
with judgments of sentiment and taste and using such analysis to inform the various
experimentations and outcomes demonstrated on the portfolio. Citing of Immanuel Kant and the
subsequent sculptural provocations of Marcel Duchamp has provided the candidate with
historical precedence and context. The introduction of text through a consideration and
understanding of semiotics has allowed the candidate to play with different modes of
presentation to convey the substance of their ideas.
The workbook is used in a manner that has not only allowed the candidate to evaluate decisions
made for individual works but is also an investigative tool in itself. The candidate has canvased
a range of possibilities from Internet interactivity, animation, through to ideas around
performance. The synergy between workbook and portfolio is complete and demonstrates
excellent studentship in terms of understanding the programme and the individual project
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undertaken.
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SCHOLARSHIP
The portfolio begins with a close observation of the micro within the natural world, which is in
part motivated by the candidate’s interpretation of the work of the Belgian Sculptor Wim
Delvoye, who is concerned with questions about human dependency upon technology and how
in the future, material life could/will be increasingly dominated by technology.
The candidate has begun their discussion by questioning what we understand the ‘organic’ and
the synthetic’ to be. This is further supported within the workbook by appropriate research into
‘the golden ratio’, an irrational mathematical constant that is purported to be found in all natural
systems. In this instance the golden ratio provides the candidate a formal equation by which
aesthetic and material considerations can be determined. This has been played out through
various different manifestations that reference natural phenomena, but continually play on the
‘organic’ and the ‘synthetic’. This provides the overall conceptual framework from which each
iteration of work has been developed.
The developments within panel 2 consist of a variety of mechanical contraptions, some that are
fully articulated, crafted principally from balsa wood, wire and micro-circuitry that describe and
illustrate movement. These experimentations have led the candidate to expand the format from
object-making to envisaging a diorama as the vehicle for an animated narrative sequence and
finally concluding with very delicate small scale works that could equally be understood as
jewellery. The deliberate use of ‘green’ and ‘red’ throughout gives a visual coherence to the
various explorations that have been undertaken.
Throughout this submission, the candidate displays a fluent understanding of how to work on a
diminutive scale, defying normative assumptions that sculptural practice need be large in order
to be worthy. There is also a notable value given to the handcrafted/assembled and ‘attention to
detail’. This candidate shows effortless control and enthusiasm for model-making and
appropriately cites references to handcrafted jewellery (and in particular the art nouveau
jewellery of Lalique), within the workbook. An understanding of this context in sculptural terms
is what distinguishes this Scholarship submission as a highly inventive and individual
interpretation of sculptural concerns, particularly, issues to do with scale and materiality. Within
the workbook a number of other parallel investigations take place that have not been included
within the portfolio. Collectively, the evidence contained within the workbook and that which is
demonstrated on the portfolio panels adds up to a comprehensive understanding of sculptural
practice. This has continually been developed through new ideas, avoiding this submission from
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being repetitive and making it worthy of the Scholarship award.
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