Work In Progress

Work In Progress Sculpture

Taking a Line for a Walk in Cartesian Space (work in progress sculpture)

This is the current state of my latest work in progress reclaimed metal sculpture. Forgot to measure it (again), but approx 1m high x 1.5m wide x 2m long (39″ x 59″ x 79″). Current working title: ‘Recumbent Figure in Cartesian Space’ or ‘Taking a Line For a Walk in 3 Dimensional Space. Doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, so any better suggestions gratefully received!

The caption from the original post is summarised below, but I’ve also realised that the piece is about inviting the viewer to help ‘complete’ the piece by analysing the ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ space in order to decide what is ‘figure’ and what is ‘ground’. I was tempted to use Captain Beefheart’s Zigzag Wanderer soundtrack again, but thought the workshop sounds might add authenticity and interest!

This piece is based on the well-known Paul Klee quote that ‘Drawing is taking a line for a walk. In this piece I’m trying to take the line for a walk in 3 dimensional Cartesian space (x, y and z axes) in order to evoke a reclining female figure and – hopefully – provide just enough clues for an observer to work out what it is. The intention is to suggest planes and volumes without actually using any so that the observer is invited to quite literally ‘fill in the gaps’. On circling the figure, the hope is that certain familiar shapes will offer themselves for recognition (playing with ideas of ‘schema and correction’ after E.H. Gombrich’s book, Art and Illusion) whilst other – previously recognised shapes – will ‘disappear’ as they are seen from different angles (playing with ideas of focus versus peripheral vision)

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Torso IV: Work in Progress Sculpture

TORSO IV sculpture front view 2

Torso IV: The photos make it look small but it’s 46″ x 24″ x 24″ (116 x 61 x 61cm) and weighs 106 lbs (48kg)! Ideally, I’d like to grind and polish it to a mirror finish, but it may not be practical given the ‘distressed’ surface of the reclaimed metal.

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Work in Progress: Torso III

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Work in progress: Torso III (reclaimed metal – forgot to measure, but approx 100cm x 60cm x 40cm). I’m tempted to subtitle this piece, “I, For One, Welcome Our New Robot Overlords”, but might be a tad too long. Still trying to channel @damienhirst ‘s #wreckoftheunbelievable, but from a Modernist perspective, with elements of Jacob Epstein’s ‘Rock Drill’. Tempted to try and recreate a verdigris finish somehow.

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Work in progress welded sculpture: Torso II (after Laocoön)

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Work in progress welded sculpture: Torso II (after Laocoön) made from reclaimed metal. It’s early days, so my arc welding skills won’t win any prizes, but I’m having lots of whale of a time learning!


#weldedsculpture #weldedart #metalart #welding #weld #arcwelding #stickwelding #figure #abstractfigure #abstractsculpture #figurativesculpture #cubism #cubistsculpture #flatnessversusdepth #lifelonglearning #art #artist #northwalesartists #anglesey #ynysmôn #andydobbieart

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Maquette of The Crucified Christ

Maquette-of-The-Crucified-Christ

This is a video of a maquette for a potential commission I’ve been working on of ‘The Crucified Christ’. It was inspired by the ‘Visual Perception and the Brain’ course presented by Professor Dale Purves on Coursera.org, which led me to wrestle with the idea of ‘The Inverse Problem as it relates to Optics’. It’s a fascinating subject even if 90% of it goes straight over my head! Once again, it was partly inspired by the catalogue from the recent ‘Picasso and Paper’ exhibition at the Royal Academy. They have generously provided a virtual tour of the exhibition for our viewing pleasure!

(Maquette made from A4 sheet of polypropylene – approx dimensions 29cm x 30cm x 14cm)

#maquette#sculpture#picasso#picassoandpaper#inverseproblem#flatnessversusdepth#howdowesee#andydobbieart#spaceexplorer#volume#facets#planes#volume#mass#art#artist#anglesey#ynysmôn#northwales

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Richard and Ruth Duo II

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Richard-and-Ruth-Maquette-III-paper-

Sorry if these are getting repetitive or boring, but I’m have great fun experimenting in the studio! Thanks again to @richard_ruth_art for the pose and for kick-starting my creative mojo again.

This is another maquette in polypropylene, this time playing with the transparency if the material as well introducing subtle textures to create subject/ground/shadows. I was trying to get back to the simplicity of Picasso’s experiments, where he used just two or three folds to create volume in space.

I’ve also included a ‘coloured’ see through version (so that’s what an invisible barrier looks like) which, to my eye, is a bit stronger, but I’d be grateful if you’d tell me your preference in the comments.

My hope is that these will feed back into my paintings, as I really feel like this is a 3d representation of what I’ve been trying to achieve in some of my geometric paintings in which I’m trying to paint non-perspectival ‘slices’ through the space/time continuum and then ‘project’ both the subject and background on to those planes (trippy maaan…🤯). I’ve also included a pic of the paper mockup in case it’s of interest.

Music by my daughter’s band, @zelyg_band. Check out their new EP! #rockdad

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Head Maquette I

Head-I-Cover

First head experiment in frosted polypropylene (17cm x 15cm x 3cm). It’s a bit two dimensional and, although this is sort of inline with my recurring theme of ‘flatness versus depth’, it doesn’t really work ‘in the round’. Still, the light hitting the facets/planes does suggest some volume. I’m calling it a ‘self isolation portrait’ 🤔😉
P.S. the background music is by my daughter’s band @zelyg_band so hope it’s ok to play it… New EP out now! Buy it before they get famous!!)

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