4.
Wax Casting
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Taking shape by breaking out of the restrictions of two-dimensionality, I wanted to create something lifelike, something that comes from my own body, that feels like birthing an extension of myself. Working with the imprint of arms that symbolise a cold, thus welcoming hug, this wax casting process is an appendix to the lithographs ‘Erlkönig’, that comes to life, but is as almost as mortal and as a human body, exposed to its surroundings and in danger to melt away or fall apart.
Choosing wax as a material for this sculpture allowed me to fill in the details of my skin and bones and easily shape it to become its own.
The hand is cast in alginate and gypsum to adjust to the shape of my arm. The process of having to stay still while it dries creates a sense of lifelessness, while the impossibility to stay completely still creates cracks and deformities that result in the visual of an arm that is cracked open. Again, the body seems to be opened up, an attacked surface to create more room for what is hiding underneath the surface.
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