Soft sculpture

In an attempt to loosen up my style, I decided to switch mediums, and made some soft sculptures: the first one was a 3D take on the ‘girl standing on a crocodile’ water colour painting that I had previously made. I particularly enjoyed making the crocodile and it’s little wire feet the most, as it’s these types of silly little details that elivate a piece for me. I didn’t like the girl as much as I was unable to reserve any silly little accidents whilst making her, I also didn’t have as much fun making her, as (unlike the crocodile) I had a sense of what she would end up looking like before I had even finished making her…

Much like with my paintings, I feel that I struggle to cultivate a loose and intuitive style with my soft sculptures, and so in an attempt to create a sense of loosness I took some notes from my paintings and gave the girls purple noses with bright red lips. In the end I felt that the soft sculptures were still too stiff and kitsch looking, which is not what I’m aiming for. Though I do sometimes wonder if maybe the only true difference between kitsch (which I don’t love) and folk (which I do love) is the context- art space vs domestic space and commercial vs creative compolsion?

I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why, but this was my least favourite of the 3 soft sculptures that I made that week.

“ I do sometimes wonder if maybe the only true difference between kitsch (which I don’t love) and folk (which I do love) is the context- art space vs domestic space and commercial vs creative compolsion?”

This was my favourite out of the three soft sculptures that I made- I love the expression on her face, her pouty red lips, the shape of her nose, and the wildness of her hair. She was the most unexpected; whilst I was making her I had no idea that she would look as she did in the end (the element of suprise is definitely one of the things that I enjoy most about the creative process).