New Year 2015 Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #8 Skin Texture Part 1

Copyright  2015  Art Di Lella

Copyright 2015  Art Di Lella

Copyright 2015  Art Di Lella

Copyright 2015   Art Di Lella

Copyright 2015   Art Di Lella

Copyright 2015   Art Di Lella

Hello again,

Back for 2015, a set of new images of a sculpture bust that I've been working on recently. The latest pictures show the early application of skin texture on Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #8.
To begin,skin texture application especially on younger subjects is very challenging because of it's subtlety. It's more time consuming for me to do than let's say applying skin texture to an old craggy male because the texture I'm applying is done in subtle layers with very small tools. This insures that the texture is visible but not exaggerated. I do a lot of experimentation on every model I sculpt in order to find the right surface treatment therefore much of the sculpture will be in different stages of development simultaneously. It may look confusing to the viewer but there is definite purpose. This sculpture when finished will be cast in silicone so it's important that the surface be as natural as possible.
I will return soon with a new installment.
Cheers.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Bust #8 Changes and Adjustments

Copyright       Art Di lella 2014

Copyright      Art Di Lella 2014

Copyright      Art Di Lella 2014

Copyright     Art Di Lella 2014

The above images are the last of a series of hyper realistic busts. #8 is a reconstruction over a real human skull and like the others I followed the contours and the anatomy of each cranium to produce all the different faces. Unlike a forensic reconstruction,this series of busts will be part of an contemporary art installation.
Getting back to the title "changes and adjustments" refers to the modelling. In the earlier version of #8 she was very lean looking which after several months of not working on her I noticed that her neck, shoulders and lower jaw were not the right proportion. After making the necessary changes,the sculpture is in the process of going through the final stages of contouring  and so the next post will be about the beginning stage of applying the skin texture. I'm looking forward to it.
I'll be back soon. Cheers.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture Head Transplant Review

Copyright     Art Di Lella 2014

After a very long break from blogging I'm back with a new post.
The images in this post are the latest of my Hyper Realistic Figure. The figure is a clay reconstruction of a juvenile Homo Erectus(Lake Turkana Boy). Although this type of subject is usually reserved for natural history museums,my figure will be used in a contemporary art context.

Today's post shows the images of the new clay head. As I had mentioned in the previous post I was unhappy with the previous head and ended up purchasing an authentic copy of KNM-15000 skull from Francecasts which was installed on the sculpture back in March. Since then I've been carefully building up the forms and then over the past few days finishing the bust of this full figure. I have to say the main challenge for me in the sculpting of this individual's head is believability. I guess the main difficulty is no one knows what these individuals looked like so it ends up being a piece of informed speculation.

The rest of the body is done except for some detailing on the hands and feet. I will post those pictures over the coming weeks. In the meantime I'm starting some new projects which I'll talk about shortly.

I will be back soon with updates. Cheers!

Copyright        Art Di Lella 2014

Copyright        Art Di Lella 2014

A New Skull for Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Sculpture

Image copyright              Art Di lella 2014

Image copyright         Art  Di Lella 2014

Image copyright        Art Di lella 2014

Image copyright       Art Di Lella 2014

Image copyright       Art Di Lella 2014

Image copyright       Art Di lella 2014

Image copyright         Art Di Lella 2014

Hello again.
Recently, I visited online Francecasts which is a manufacturer of high quality reproductions of skulls and post cranial parts for both human and animal. I purchased two skull casts from them back in 2005 and from time to time visit their site to see what's new. In recent years they've become a distributor  for the Kenyan National Museums casting program which sells high quality reproductions of early human and  non human primate skulls and post cranial remains from the KNM collections.  The sale of these fossil castings helps finance important paleontological research into the evolutionary history of East Africa.

The images above are of a skull which I had purchased through Francecasts. The skull is a replica of the fossil KNM-WT 15000. This is an authentic KNM cast of the original fossil better known as Lake Turkana Boy.
I bought this cast because of my frustration using a Bone Clones replica first and then later a poor quality cast of the fossil from a European source.  The differences between KNM cast and the other two are very noticeable especially  in the detail of the teeth as shown in the above pictures.

Anyway, this skull will be used to do a new head reconstruction for my figure sculpture Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture#1.

If you are interested in acquiring authentic KNM casts contact Shane Walker at Francecasts. The money goes directly to Kenyan National Museums to help finance important research into human origins.

I will be back shorty with some new posts.
Cheers!

Mystery Bust Part 3 Medusa Revealed

Photo by Art Di Lella  2013       Artist  Chris Curreri

Photo by Art Di Lella 2013       Artist Chris Curreri

Photo by Art Di Lella 2013         Artist  Chris Curreri

Photo by Art Di Lella 2013        Artist  Chris Curreri

Photo by Art Di Lella 2013    Artist Chris Curreri

Photo by Art Di Lella 2013     Artist Chris Curreri

I'm back with the final installment of images of the so called Mystery Bust. .
The story began last year when I was approached by Chris Curreri  to assist him in producing a new sculpture as a part of his upcoming photo installation at the Daniel Faria Gallery. The sculpture was to be a new interpretation of the Medusa image. Chris commissioned me to sculpt the bust under his direction and specifications. The bust was later moulded and cast in cement. The pictures are of the finished bust at the exhibition.

Mystery Bust "Sort of" Revealed Part 2

Image copyright     Art Di Lella 2013

Image copyright   Art Di Lella 2013

Image copyright    Art Di Lella 2013

Image copyright      Art Di Lella 2013

Image copyright      Art Di Lella 2013

Image copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013

 

Happy New Year

I'm back with a series of posts about a commission that started back in September of this past year.
The artist Chris Curreri  and I had a number of conversations over the past several months about the opportunity to work together again on a sculpture idea Chris had been working on for an upcoming show. Under Chris' direction I began sculpting this bust and the above images illustrate the early development of this piece.

I'll be back soon with the third installment. Cheers.

Hyper Realistic Sculpture "Mystery Bust" Part 1

Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013

Over the past two weeks I've been working on a hyper realistic sculpture bust in clay which was commissioned about a month ago. For now I can't divulge the story about this sculpture until the end of November.
Until then I will refer to it as my "mystery bust".