Negotiating The Void - clarence lee

 

Wooden Void (Linear)

I started on the wooden void first because it was to me the hardest to craft. As such, I poured the most effort and thought into this model. 

Wood to me is a highly sacred material. It has a high sculptural potential that requires much skill, which I currently lack. Knowing that wood tends to be very linear, I wanted to challenge this conventional property. I first asked myself what are the qualities or concepts that I wanted to capture with this wooden void. When I referred to the acetate cone, the contours visually stood out and it immediately triggered an idea of wooden rings that seem to levitate and float freely. I then thought back to the overarching qualities that my klecksograph initiated. Upon contemplation, I felt that if I could harmonise the qualities of complexity, simplicity and balance, it would tie in nicely with my initial motivation to create the chosen klecksograph. As the klecksograph circle represented the nature of life to me, the wooden model should then represent the qualities of complexity, simplicity and balance - ideas that are inextricably connected to the nature of our existence. Complexity can be represented by the warped rings that seem to float. Simplicity can be represented by the overall shape that these "rings of complexity" create - a cone that is a basic geometric shape. Balance can be represented by the precarious nature in which the the rings are stacked upon one another to allow an inverted cone to stand. This boldness to me, completes the metaphor - a paradoxical attempt to seek out what might essentially be simple through complex ways and thereby derive a sense of meaning to our life. 

Paper Void (Planar)

When I first started work on the paper model, I wanted to the model to represent the imaginary "cylinders" that connected the contours on the surface of my acetate cone.

Next, I began to question the properties of paper. I wanted to bring out its potential as a material. Paper as a material has a highly planar property. It is hard to give it a curvilinear property as it demands much skill from the craftsman. It is however easy to fold it to create angularity. To me, the strongest quality of paper is through its interaction with light and shadow. A crisp white surface of paper can give one a sense of purity and directness. When it is complemented with curvilinear properties and treated with proper lighting, it can appear extremely sensuous. When it is complemented with angular properties, it can appear paradoxically brutal and graceful at the same time. 

However, I admit that I was lazy in my approach and did not want to "waste" time exploring these properties further. This feeling of frustration triggered an idea to crush the paper so that it can take upon a property that is unconventional. This direction delighted me because crushed paper is less resistant to the attempts to mold it. This simplified the task greatly.

As I worked on the paper model, I thought to myself that by simply stacking these hollow paper rings in the shape of a cone, it would be far too boring. I felt that if I gave each ring a tilt, it might visually appear more interesting.

My only regret is that I did not spend more time exploring these properties. The following is a link to a Japanese artist whose paper art really pushes the properties of the given material. 

http://yukonishimura.com/index.php

Wire Void (Curvilinear)

For the wire void, I wanted to give the void between the contours a physical manifestation. I felt that the wire could best fulfill this intent because it seems almost instinctive that the wire can easily resemble chaos. I did not want to force a linear property on the wire this time around and so I fully embraced its curvilinear nature instead.

 I started randomly twirling the wires around to give the central core of the acetate cone a physical form. The central core would be the thickest in terms of the amount of wire devoted to its creation, while the outermost void would use the least amount of wire. This is so that the viewer can quickly identify it has the core.