Aidan McCormack - Illustration and Visual Media Completing an Internship as a Studio Assistant with multi-disciplinary artist Lauren Baker I found myself involved in installation-based work for a range of projects. One of our main focuses was for a sculpture called “Frequency Of The Sun” Which was being showcased at the Asimuth Music Festival in Al Ula Desert of Saudi Arabia. Developing Laurens sketches into a Digital 3D mock up ready for the production was an important step and entering this internship with little 3D modelling experience I feel I have been pushed to improve my skills in which in which I have also been able to transfer into my personal work. Seeing the sculpture end up in the desert of Al Ula, Saudi Arabia felt like a great success, and was luckily shown just before the lock down had been put in place. Although this was a success we had other projects which had undergone a similar process and were to be shown later on this year which have now been cancelled due to the current pandemic. For example we had a sculpture and a stage design project being shown at Glastonbury 2020 which has now been cancelled. With my interest for music based design this was a disappointment but is something I would like to do in the future. Although this pandemic caused disruptions within the teams plans and site specific projects it’s made me realise the importance of how to react and resolve problems by continuing to be creative in different ways. This time away from the commission based work has positively influenced aspects of my creation. I felt that a constant influx of commissions and fast paced turn arounds for briefs can sometimes blur your vision and creativity as an artist, so sometimes you need to take a step back and revisit your inspirations and purpose as a creative. The first installation-based project I helped work on at my internship called “An Open Dialogue With Nature” was a response to raise awareness of the ever-growing fires and deforestation problems we have been facing particularly within the amazon. Showcased at Saatchi Art’s, The Other Art Fair, Through donations it raised enough money to plant the goal of 8,888 trees in the Amazon. This really helped me envision an active example of how art can be used to respond to a current world crisis, and how although just an individual, you can use your art to create a voice a wider audience can relate to. In response I began making a digital artwork which could be sold to create donations for the NHS, relaying positivity away from the negativity of this pandemic. The following image shows the work in progress of my design which I am planning to make prints with, and maybe later print on t shirt when possible. “Precious Touch” I believe this pandemic has really reminded us as humans of the precious importance of touch and how it is an action that can usually be taken for granted, but we are now being reminded of how important these moments of contact really can be. I used the floating bubble, which once touched could be gone forever as a metaphor of how precious and delicate life can be. Maybe this print can be a reminder to cherish those moments of touch but also support the unity and hope we have created throughout this pandemic. I have found a productive way to spend my spare time throughout the pandemic is to check out the range of Virtual Exhibitions that are currently online due to all the scheduled shows being cancelled. Although not as immersive as an actual gallery visit I have still found myself inspired by a huge range of works and appreciative of the artist who still made sure there hard work could be seen even in its space despite this unfamiliar format. https://www.stolenspace.com/exhibitions/
An unexpected form of inspiration I took from these virtual experiences developed when my friend and musician GLOWE learnt that her shoot plans for upcoming music videos have been cancelled due to the pandemic. This therefore made me think of how I can overcome this problem. Prior to the pandemic I had completed a range of 3D Body scans of different individuals at university, inspired by the virtual gallery tours I am now going to use my spare time throughout lockdown to attempt to use these scans to create a virtual music video within cinema4D and Adobe After Affects. This will progress my practice as before I was creating static imagery based around the 3D scans (which I have shown below), using youtube I am now learning how to rig both a camera and the figures to move through these different environments, bringing them to life in a virtual world, which is an area Ive always wanted to progress in but have never done before. I believe this point explores the positivity the pandemic can provide as it forces forward thinking when it comes to resolving problems we have never faced before.
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March 2022
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