6th Jan 2021 – CHARLEY MILLAR ART

Comfort/ Discomfort on the body

Starting off the week I wanted to further manipulate my body to feel restricted and uncomfortable. Playing around with different materials I wanted to appear uncomfortable while almost being held by the materials i was using. I think my favourite images came from when i used tights with the cut out sections as they show an almost relief from being held and pulled in all the time.

I wanted to use soft materials that are traditionally used to keep things warm and safe – wool, tights, bubble wrap. Things that on there own don’t carry feelings of being uncomfortable. But used in these images they pull and contort me to the point it appears painful and manipulative. The contrast of comfort and discomfort is a re occuring element to this project that i think enforces feeling restricted.

Abstracting The Form

After a one to one i was encouraged to uses these images as a way of abstracting the form and making it less about the body and make it more abstract. So still thinking about feeling restricted and uncomfortable i played around with materials – soft , hard, flexible and stubborn to try and communicate the discomfort.

This also led me to think about the properties of these materials and i really enjoyed working on a small scale in 3D. These little clay models almost resembled a form without feeling to specific.

These images also show a type of fragility that comes with soft materials – this is reflective of the fragility I think we all feel when being restricted by the covid rules and fragility of my own body and mental health.

Material forms

upping the scale and bringing in more materials and elements i played around with trying to almost hold up the soft materials. Manipulating them to fit in spaces and twisting them to fit a specific shape or line i wanted it to follow. I also made a dough like material that resembled my flesh and in someways how i felt. lazy and slouched over all the time. I felt like i too was holding myself up when i just wanted to be flat (like the dough).

Again i think these 3d forms and sculptures iv made create interesting lines and carry this feeling of disscomfort within them. They also provide a lot of interesting shapes and lines to draw an sketch from.