Thursday, 7 April 2011

Idea development - Punk and Vietnam

My ideas have developed and I have decided on a 'concept' and period for my interpretation.  My initial research led me to look at various wars and photographs and art inspired from them.  One of the pieces of work that I found was this:


   "Vietnam Scene" Duane Hanson 1969


"American Photorealist Sculptor, Duane Hanson (1925 - 1996), created realistic human figures in polyvinyl that would then be painted and dressed in accessories for the ultimate in realistic statuary. His Vietnam Scene was a tableau of dead and dying US soldiers positioned on a gallery floor as if a grenade had detonated in their midst.  Hanson's hyper-realistic figures often couched a biting social critique of the excesses of American consumerism, racism, and other social ills." 1

This installation showed me that you can create the stillness of death, but the positioning and realism of the figure is important, so I shall try to apply this in my interpretation. The Ideas behind the work are not disimilar to the meanings and symbolim in the original painting and I think this work is very relevant to my project. 

From looking at the Vietnam war I went on to look at the rise of punk in the 70s and the militant protests against war and other causes for social unrest.  I think using leather instead of armour will work really effectively because it will maintain the shiny element of the armour and the studs on the armour of the soldier can be recreating using the studs and spikes that define punk.





The ideas behind the rise of punk and the reasons people dressed this way was to make a stand and comment on society, to go against everything else and be outrageous where everything else was controlled.  The state was killing freedom of dress and music was becoming mundane to many, punk was a way to rebel and take a stand. 

Images such as these will be my main influence in creating the costume, they have a militant feel and I think it's a good way of updating the painting to a more contemporary and relevant way.  I hope to find most of the components of the costume in charity shops and then I can accessorise and style them up individually.  I am pleased with the developments in my ideas and I feel that, when combined with the location, my interpretation could be quite successful.

No comments:

Post a Comment