Bestioles

Art is everywhere. But you need an artist’s eye and the creative ability to transform any object into a work of art. Few people have the skills to sublimate these everyday or neglected objects.

Some of these artists recover what we consider to be rubbish with a view to transforming it into a sculpture to alert the public to our lifestyles, the impact of human activity on the environment and our behavioural shortcomings. This discarded object becomes a standard, enabling us to confront our ‘reflection’ directly.

Artists such as Artur Bordalo, who transforms rubbish into huge sculptures of animals to make people aware of the devastating effect of over-consumption and pollution on our world, or the Brazilian Vik Muniz, who reproduces famous paintings using materials recovered from rubbish tips. More recently, Solenn Ma, a member of a creative collective based in Nantes, created a buzz with her wedding dress made from surgical masks. All the more reason to alert the public to the use of surgical masks and their impact on nature.

Following in their footsteps, Lyon-based teacher Olivia Vidil asked her Prépa Entertainment students to transform rubbish into creatures straight from their imaginations.

SUBJECT OF THE EXERCISE

Minerals, dried plants, electronic waste, plastic and metal objects, glass, patafix, plexiglas…

Use your library of collected waste objects. Compose and combine these various materials to build a hybrid assemblage, a unique little bug, a protean animal entity. Use the potential, diversity and graphic richness of your library of materials to build your hybrid animal.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE EXERCISE

• Propose a sculpture no larger than 20 cm wide / 20 cm long / 20 cm high,
• The bug must have a hybrid animal morphology,
• Use only clean, dry “waste” materials,
• Do not include food, decay, liquids, paper/cardboard or sharp objects,
• Respect the nature of the waste object: do not paint or alter it,
• Keep material transitions clean and fixings discreet.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE

The aim of this workshop is to get students to work on their creative abilities while developing their observation skills by collecting and selecting materials for their potential. It’s up to them to look beyond the objects in their hands to combine them and achieve a balance between them for the final composition.

As the sculpture had a set size, it was important that the students took this into account and thought about their creation accordingly. This small volume had to be legible, homogeneous and graphic, while at the same time giving it meaning.

Finally, this exercise gave them the opportunity to turn an idea into reality by putting it down on paper in a sketch and then in volume. Moving from intention to realisation.

TECHNIQUE(S)

Various objects.