Positive Destruction and Renewal

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella    BB and his skull

Part of the process of sculpture is the taking down the model.  Although it appears as a purely destructive act,it's for me a signal that It's time to move on and use the armature for the next bust in this series.

The images below show the breakdown of this model, while it maybe a bit grotesque,it clearly illustrates how close the skull actually is to the surface of the face.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella  

BB, like all the others in this series, is for me, a confirmation on the important relationship between the skull and the surface features. Although this isn't a portrait in a traditional sense, it's nonetheless an interpretation of a specific individual based upon the information from the skull.
Later this week, I hope to introduce the sixth bust in this series and catch up on other studio news.
Have a great week, cheers.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #2 Final

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Hopefully, this is the last post about sculpting this particular clay model.  YW as I had mentioned in a previous posting was supposedly completed back in 2010.  But my usual practice is to set aside models for a time so that I can have a period to reflect and perhaps be a little more objective about what has been done.
This year, I decided to make some adjustments,making parts of the face fuller, widening the shoulders and making numerous adjustments to the skin texture.

Image copyright  Art Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

The last two images, I tried to bring out the skin texture more fully by increasing the contrast in the photo.
I found it more difficult to photograph this sculpture because of the subtlety of the skin texture which on young individuals tends to be soft and not easy to read. Another aspect of this entire project that isn't mentioned is that each sculpture in this series has a unique skin texture which isn't too surprising when depicting human beings of different ages and gender.
Meanwhile, the end of the month is fast approaching and the push is on to complete a number of projects by month's end.
I'll be back again next week.  Till then have a great weekend.

What was all that Concrete about?

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

On October 20th, I published a post regarding the use of concrete in fine art applications. I deliberately avoided revealing the artist's name or what the project was all about . The reason was that I didn't want to potentially upstage the debut of a new sculpture installation by blabbing all over the internet. So I kept silent about the show and the artist till now.

Back in the summer, I was approached by the artist Chris Curreri  who was exploring the idea about making a large cube with a red glass vase imbedded in the cube itself. We discussed different possibilities and Chris told me at the time that he needed to do more research before making a decision.
Around mid September, Chris came back to my studio and commissioned me to make five cubes in concrete with a red glass vase imbedded in each one.

About a two weeks later,I began constructing the mould or form to produce the concrete casts and here are the images.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

The red vase is placed upside down in the mould  prior to the concrete pour.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Styrofoam is placed inside the cast to reduce the weight. Believe or not these casts even with the foam inserts still weigh about 80 to 90 kilograms each!

The concrete is very carefully poured in as to avoid breaking the vase which I did twice. This was a very challenging casting project, indeed!   After the vase is covered, then the rest of the concrete is poured into the mould till it's filled and leveled off. That completes the casting process.


Here are the final images of the finished sculpture in the Daniel Faria Gallery  This sculpture installation is part of Chris Curreri's one person exhibit called "Beside Myself"

Photo credit  Art  Di Lella  by permission of the artist and Daniel Faria Gallery

Photo credit  Art  Di Lella  by permission of the artist and Daniel Faria Gallery

photo credit  Art  Di Lella  by permission of the artist and Daniel Faria Gallery

I would like to thank Chris Curreri ,who was a pleasure to work with during the entire process and his dealer Daniel Faria of Daniel Faria gallery for allowing me to take and publish these photos.
The show is called "Beside Myself" at Daniel Faria Gallery,  188 St. Helens ave. Toronto . It's on from November 17, 2011 to January 7, 2012.
Later this week ,I'll have news on hyper realistic bust #2.  Cheers.

Mould Making and Studio Life

The fall is usually the busiest part of my year. It's rarely steady with noticeable swings in activity. This has been my experience over many years. It can be at times a challenge to organize the studio schedule in order to meet the various deadlines. The concept of working on one project at a time is largely a fantasy.  It would be nice but that's not how things work.
In the meantime, I wanted to show some of the other projects that are being worked on in the studio at this time.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 What you're seeing in the above photo is silicone rubber being applied to the sculpture. Usually five to six applications are made in order to have sufficient thickness.  Although these are only detail shots, this sculpture is almost 3 metres tall or around 9 feet. Because of its large size,the mould will be made in sections to accommodate the casting in wax. The sculptor is Al. Green.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I'm still working on the shoulders of YW and making some progress. I should be done sometime next week.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

This is a detail  of a large silicone mould I made in 2009.  I've  been commissioned to do a wax replica from that mould for the purpose of bronze casting. The artist is Abraham Anghik Rueben.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Remember #5 , I 'm still working on him as well. This model requires a reworking in spots but I feel confident this piece is coming to a conclusion soon as well.
My working day often is spread around different tasks which are done according to priority and how much can be done in a single day.  For the most part things go pretty smoothly . I just wanted to show a glimpse of some of the different projects that are being worked on simultaneously in my studio.
Next week I'm hoping to have updates on BB,YW and revealing what all that concrete was about.
Talk to all next week, have a great weekend.

Hair Punching Hyper Realistic Sculpture #3 Part 4

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Over the past two weeks,I've been trying to figure out what direction to go regarding the hair and beard treatment on BB. I've now decided to go with a short cropped beard for the moment but I'm still uncertain about a hair style for this sculpture.. The present image of  BB reminded  me of a few people I once knew at the Ontario College of Art back in the 1970's. I digress.
So,on Saturday, I went to a local supplier to purchase more hair,specifically for a beard on BB. Beard hair tends to be on most men, coarser with varying degrees of curl.  I brought with me some head hair to my supplier so it could be matched up with the beard.  But I wasn't too concerned if the colouring didn't quite match perfectly because beard hair often is a little different in coloration from head hair. If the colour of the beard during the punching process is starting to diverge a little too much from the  head hair then some head hair is then punched in various spots in the beard area to help balance the colour.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copy right  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

As you can see in the above images,I've finished punching in the beard and making the line of the beard itself not too even,so it would look more natural. Once,I figure out the hair style for this piece then I'll start punching in more head hair randomly so as to make the hairline more natural. It's a back and forth process with constant revisions.
Later this week,I'm hoping to have some news on #2 YW and some other projects as well.
Have a great week.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #2 Part 4

I've been madly working on YW the past two days plus finishing off some silicone moulds for a local Toronto sculptor and making some Christmas ornaments for Barbara's Etsy shop which will be available soon.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I've completed the head, for the moment and these are the latest pictures.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I like her soft, somewhat melancholy expression.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

The last picture shows a bit of the shoulders which needs further refinement but it's close to completion..
Even though I've stated the near completion of this clay model, the sculpture will be set aside for some time and then reexamined to confirm it's finished or it needs additional tweaking. Then after all the fussing is completed, I'll start on the mouldmaking and start the whole casting process again.
Next week, I'm hoping to have some updates on BB.
I hope all have an excellent weekend. Cheers.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #2 Part 3

I'm sure the regular viewers of this blog have noticed that the posts often follow a linear progression.  I will show pictures that illustrate the process of making a sculpture in a sequential order.
But sometimes I will stop working on a piece and then either start a new sculpture or return to a piece that I was working on earlier in the year. This post is about returning to an earlier sculpture #2 the Young Woman.
This bust, like three others in this series was sculpted in 2010. But in early 2011, I decided to make some changes to this bust and then once more stopped working on it. This past weekend I returned to working on this piece.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 Sometimes when I'm working I find that these interruptions in the process are beneficial because it will give me the needed time away from a piece that perhaps is struggling and I don't  have an immediate answer. By using this strategy it also prevents me from forcing the issue and overworking the sculpture to a point of abandonment.
Now, I feel closer to a resolution and feel confident this bust will be finished soon.
In the meantime, I'm still working out how to finish BB and of course trying to complete the various moulding and casting projects that are going on in the studio.
I'll be back later this week. Cheers.

Expressions and Impressions In Bronze

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

This the fifth installment of my Bronze series. This sculpture was originally inspired by a young woman who I saw in Florence,Italy in 1996.  I didn't attempt modelling her until early 2003. When I started working up the clay, I made the mistake of trying to copy her from memory and of course this led to absolute frustration. It just didn't work.
I needed to let go of this literal translation and try to work a little more intuitively. So, I removed the hair and left her bald, then played with different facial expressions to give additional drama to the face. I finally chose the sad face because it seemed to suit her better and I do remember the original person looking rather pensive perhaps even melancholy at the time.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

You may have noticed at the back and bottom of this sculpture some rods and tubes that are attached.  Those are the original feeds and venting artifacts of the bronze casting process. They are usually removed but I kept them as part of the sculpture because I wanted the object to  illustrate the relationship between modeling and casting and it's mutual dependency. I really wanted in this piece to marry the organic with the industrial which was a new approach for me at the time.
The casting was completed in 2004 and then it was later exhibited at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition in 2007.
Next week, I hope to have some new updates on BB and other stuff.
Have a great weekend, cheers!