If I were an Assemblage...- My Final Work: Creation and Evaluation

My own Assemblage: the Effect and Evaluation

So I finally finished the task, which means I created my own assemblage that was supposed to tell a lot about myself. I know I had sketched a draft project, but it was not my aim to repeat all the steps again. I sort of sticked to the plan, but some elements turned out to be hard to use in practice. This is the reason why my final work is only a little bit similar to the project. In general, it shows pretty much the same: these are the details that differ.

Well, I know it looks slightly messy, but it was supposed to be an illustration of my personality, so I don't feel to guilty... Let me just explain what the separate elements are to show, what they previously were to be and why they were changed.

So firstly, here we have the fragment of a girl's face. Initially I wanted her to be a hippie, with lennon-like glasses, but after I painted her extra long and thick eyelashes I realised that they won't correspond with glasses too well. The girl represents a classical canon of beauty, which also serves a specific purpose: it contradicts the suspicion that it is my portrait. The assemblage could not show me directly as a person, so this is just a random lady. Another element was her hair which at first had to turn into spaghetti, rainbow and a rope, but I wonder how I expected it to fit on a piece of paper and look good at the same time. This was an impossible task, which is why I simply decorated her head with multiple floral elements. I also sticked a branch with leaves that fell off a plant that grows in my room and it took up quite a lot of space. The flowers I used are either artificial ones (the orchid), material roses or (a more ecological option) petals made out of colourful plastic bags.

 In the right bottom corner, there were supposed to be some people gathered under an umbrella (it is made of soft, furry, giraffe-like material). My initial idea was to make them all identical, but later on I decided to put there a few influential figures that I somehow admire for their creation. There we have Freddie Mercury, Allen Ginsberg, Syd Barrett, Vincent van Gogh, Woody Allen and Paul McCartney. None of them is a coincidence of course. Next to them there is an anchor on a rope, which belongs to the...

... Yellow Submarine of course! It is a symbol of my love for the Beatles and psychedelic arts as well. The submarine sails across plastic bags ocean and splashes colourful rain on the umbrella below. A toy duck, creeping behind the ship not only corresponds colouristically with the picture, but also reminds me of one of my first toys. The last part I want to talk about is the unusual cloud on the left. The brain cloud is a famous work of an American conceptual artist John Badessari, whom I truly admire for his creativity. Using this element I also wanted to separate the sea from the sky on my picture.

Generally speaking, I am quite satisfied about what I've done, however I regret not using some of my initial ideas, especially the one with a jelly rainbow. Unfortunately, I would have to change the picture's format to add all the things I consider really awesome. As I mentioned before, I am not very proud of the fact that my work is so messy, especially that I already took some actions to make it less overloaded. Yet I think this is also the point that I unconsciously made: I am totally like that and since this assemblage was to be an illustration of myself, well, shame on me.

If I Were an Assemblage... Project & Reasons

THE NEW TASK

So during our previous lessons we analysed some famous assemblage works and as we could assume, it was a preparation for our new task. This time, we are supposed to create an assemblage by ourselves! What is more this work is to illustrate us: our personalities, interests, characteristic features. 

PREPARATION AND INVESTIGATING MY OWN SELF...

Well, such works always trigger an in-depth overview of all the innermost traits and result in drawing appalling conclusions. Also, here comes the dilemma what to reveal, what to save for ourselves and what is actually worth presenting (what can be shown in an attractive way and what seems to be interesting for others). After a brainstorm I made a few decisions. I wrote down all the things I love, things that are visible for others, things that can symbolise my features and the ones that generally make me. When I got them all, well, to be honest I just took a pencil and started drawing, randomly, without paying too much attention to whether it makes sense or not. To my surprise, by trying to put as many elements together, I managed to create a comprehensive picture. I mean, no, it is not the prettiest thing out there, but it links all the things together and really means something to me. Hopefully, not only to me.

THE VERY PROJECT

Here is what the result looks like, however I know it is nor very legible in such a form, so I will describe all the separate parts later...

THE HIPPIE, FRUIT AND FLOWERS

So everyone who knows me knows that I love 1960s in every aspect. everyone who has ever seen me knows it has an expression in the amount of colour and floral designs I wear. The personality assemblage would not be complete without mentioning it. In fact, it could not be mine. The hippie girl does not have to be me, thus she is not similar at all (drawing myself would be too obvious, wouldn't it?). The more floral and trashy her head, the better, that is why I want to stick fake flowers there. Not the cemetery ones of course!!! I will print out the fruit peel designs. Using real hair for her fringe would be disgusting in my opinion, so I would rather use some kind of tassels, shoe laces or (I came up with that just a moment ago) broken crayons. The John Lennon glasses are supposed to emphasise that lady's belonging to the hippie subculture. I also want her eyelashes to stand out somehow, so I may use something (maybe fake lashes?) there. The woman's hair however, fill up almost the whole rest of the picture, so they are similar to mine. There's a lot of them and they're long and kind of wavy. 

 THE HORIZON

So this is the top of the picture. Firstly, the girl's hair turn into a rainbow (which I am planning to make up of rainbow-jellies), then they become a wave (that bottle evokes wrong associations, I would rather remove it), through which the Beatles' (best band of all times) Yellow Submarine appears. Another artificial flower here, a SUNflower acts as a sun. Moreover there is a braid among the bunch of hair. It will be made of some kind of rope and have a continuation below the submarine. As we can see, the yellow ship makes the water splash....

RAIN IN ITALY?

So the water splashes on a group of identical people, with identical faces (how about my own?), they are all holding identical umbrellas, trying to save themselves from the rain. The palm next to them will have real coconuts cut out of a big one. Its appearance is an allusion to the fact each time I go somewhere for holidays, no matter how hot that place usually is, it rains. Moreover, I love rain so much! The spaghetti has a meaning as well, Italy is my second home and the fact that the noodles go 'straight to the girl's head' say that this country is always on my mind. I will use real spaghetti as hair here. The last detail I would like to talk about is the anchor, which I mentioned before. It is attached to the rope-braid.

SCARECROW MASK: EFFECT&EVALUATION

THE SCARECROW'S READY

First of all, I wanted to apologise for not bringing my mask to school. Here's the reason: It consists of (as you can see from the photos) many fragile objects (straw, needles) and a heavy earthenware pot. This means transporting it would be a dangerous adventure and it could result in a damage of my mask. Especially since I travel by bus. That's why I decided to take pictures of a ready mask and evaluate it here.

Just to let you know, the nose is made of a christmas tree branch, while my scarecrow's hair is pure straw...

So here is the front of my mask...

And here is my scarecrow, side view...

EVALUATION

What I am quite happy about is that the outcome isn't too different from what I planned in my projects. That really restores my faith in my own consistency. The mouth is painted and the pot suits quite well. But it's probably the end of the advantages' list. Here are the problem I met on my creation journey:

1) THE NOSE

I must admit I even prepared a perfect stick for the nose. It was supposed to be wooden and kind of 'doubled' (two pieces sticking out of one). Still, when I tried it out I realised it looks really poor and ineffective. I decided to search for a better substitute and the only thing I could find at home was a branch from our christmas tree. Thank god I managed to cut the necessary part off before my parents threw it away

2) GLUING

So I thought the glue I have (the WIKOL type) is perfect for sticking the scarecrow's hair. Unfortunately the straw refused to cooperate and I found it impossible to glue it. I found sticky tape helpful although the effect was not too spectacular.

3) STRUCTURE

Here is my huge inadvertence, because I guess the mask would be a bit better, tougher and better-looking if a few more layers of paper was added. 

In general I am quite satisfied about the effect though there is still some room for improvement. Surely I won't make the same mistakes next time, but I wonder when will I have a chance to create a mask again...