Natalia Sebastian
Hard Life Being a Bunny.
This project focused on the connection between my practice and the theme of my dissertation which was Humanisation of Animals in Art.
The research for this project included artists such as William Wegman, he creates his own scenes and costumes which are often inspired by art movements such as cubism, surrealism and abstract expressionism. While working with his dogs he has been accused of animal cruelty however, the artist explains that rather than using his pets as a subject, he collaborates with them. The main influence for me, however, was the series of paintings by Sangik Sao in which he uses different animals carrying out everyday scenes from the artist's life. The animals often relate to people, for example, the use of the lion, which is considered an alpha, in his Sunday PM4 (2007) is supposed to relate to a tired head of the family after a long weekend of working. His work can be perceived by the audience as humorous yet meaningful.
I wanted to use Misty (the rabbit) as a representation of myself in my pieces I have developed some ideas showing my rabbit in situations she should not really be in, for example sitting at a desk doing work on a computer or what became really meaningful to me her in messy bed just led there.
I found photos of Misty laying down in her cage, on the floor or in my bed which I thought could be used to make the image believable. Then I have searched for images of messy bed and with help of photoshop, I have put the two together, the first couple by simply pasting the photos on top of each other and the other couple with a bit more editing gone into them to make them look more realistic.
In search of methods that would allow me to make the final piece successful I have created a line drawing of each of the edited photographs and then created a collage piece. This helped me realise that the collage method would be appropriate for the final outcome as it can bring depth and interest into it so the viewer would have to look closely into the image. All the collages were created in A5 sizes.
I chose the most successful idea out of all of them and developed it even further. I wanted it to be much more personal than just an image of a rabbit lounging in bed therefore, I have thought of objects that I personally surround myself in bed with while having a bad day and not wanting to get up. These included phone on do not disturb mode, TV remote, glasses, used tissues, snacks and cigarettes. These allowed the piece to become much more personal and that perhaps more people would relate to the image of the rabbit. Moving forward I explored different media I could use to give the piece more depth and meaning, these included cut off fabric, cardboard, tissues, masking tape, cut off photographs.
The final outcome is a mixed-media piece that shows a rabbit led in bed surrounded by objects many people would surround themselves with when having a bad day and not wanting to get up. These objects are made from cardboard, string, tissue, masking tape and bits of plastic. This makes them stand out from the piece and possibly making the viewer ask themselves about the purpose. The cover from the original photograph has been replaced with a piece of fabric that brings a sense of depth and dimension into the piece. The smudged paint and pieces of masking tape in the background add a moody atmosphere to this, a sense of darkness yet not too dark what suggest that the curtains in the room are pulled during the day. This piece is highly relatable to as everyone has one of these days from time to time where they have no will to get out of bed and do anything so, they curl up in the bed where nobody can disturb them and surround themselves with maybe not the healthiest choices of items to get them through that day.
This piece is A4 size because of the circumstances we find ourselves in, if that wasn’t the case, I would have created the piece in much bigger scale (A1/A0).
