BEESWAX
An exploration into the materiality of beeswax and the way it operates as a medium
Chrissy Leech - Extended Essay - BA Fine Art 2014/15
ABSTRACT:
This research report is an exploration into the materiality of beeswax; its qualities, representational power, visual and conceptual ambiguity and the way it operates as a medium. I explore its unique qualities; the many aspects of a medium once highly regarded, and that for centuries has played a considerable role in visual and artistic culture. I study the psychological and philosophical analogy of portraiture, death masks and replica and consider the funeral wax effigy of Sarah Hare, Madam Tussaud’s waxwork, Medardo Rosso’s 19C beeswax sculptures and Urs Fischer’s 21C melting wax figures.
I investigate the narrative, symbolic reference, materiality and aesthetics of beeswax in contemporary art. Joseph Beuys’s has a unique approach to the creative process and he transforms material into fluent and expressive artistic media. I compare Beuys’s work to the work of artist Wolfgang Laib and reveal the similarities and differences in expression and the context in which beeswax is used.
In the conclusion I discuss and equate my findings. I determine if wax has a direct relationship with bereavement and consider the accuracy with which it reproduces facial features. I return to the subject of wax effigies and explore how Madam Tussaud’s exhibitions of the 1800’s have progressed and developed for the 21st Century. Beeswax’s expressiveness, ephemeral and contradictory qualities and its numerous characteristics, for me, have great potential in spiritual and psychological terms. We live in the point between future and past, in constant motion. My work suggests a moment in time; the past that is lost or the present it encompasses.
An exploration into the materiality of beeswax and the way it operates as a medium
Chrissy Leech - Extended Essay - BA Fine Art 2014/15
ABSTRACT:
This research report is an exploration into the materiality of beeswax; its qualities, representational power, visual and conceptual ambiguity and the way it operates as a medium. I explore its unique qualities; the many aspects of a medium once highly regarded, and that for centuries has played a considerable role in visual and artistic culture. I study the psychological and philosophical analogy of portraiture, death masks and replica and consider the funeral wax effigy of Sarah Hare, Madam Tussaud’s waxwork, Medardo Rosso’s 19C beeswax sculptures and Urs Fischer’s 21C melting wax figures.
I investigate the narrative, symbolic reference, materiality and aesthetics of beeswax in contemporary art. Joseph Beuys’s has a unique approach to the creative process and he transforms material into fluent and expressive artistic media. I compare Beuys’s work to the work of artist Wolfgang Laib and reveal the similarities and differences in expression and the context in which beeswax is used.
In the conclusion I discuss and equate my findings. I determine if wax has a direct relationship with bereavement and consider the accuracy with which it reproduces facial features. I return to the subject of wax effigies and explore how Madam Tussaud’s exhibitions of the 1800’s have progressed and developed for the 21st Century. Beeswax’s expressiveness, ephemeral and contradictory qualities and its numerous characteristics, for me, have great potential in spiritual and psychological terms. We live in the point between future and past, in constant motion. My work suggests a moment in time; the past that is lost or the present it encompasses.