Venus

[MarkNewman]

I haven't posted here in quite awhile.
Here is another piece I just recently brought to the foundry for molding and casting. This will be a limited edition bronze . Edition size of 25. Right now she stands 22" to the top of her hair. I will be mounting the finished bronze to a 2 or 3 tiered circular marble base probably with a swivel bottom. The over all finished height will be around 26" tall.
This is sculpted in J-mac classic clay.
Just thought I'd share.

[mantrid]

Thats stunning.
How is the hair supported? I see a wire at the back, is it branched and does it go to the tips if the hair?

[MarkNewman]

Thank you mantrid, Yes there is wire armature though out her hair down the the tips. This clay is too soft to hold it's shape in thin areas without support.

[Dries]

Wow another great piece Mark, I still remember your “Eel Walker” and it’s still one of my all round favourite sculptures.

[scrapartoz]

thank you Mark for sharing, you have an appreciation of beauty that few of us have. i think I can learn a lot from your work.

[MarkNewman]

Thanks so much I really appreciate your very kind comments.

Dries, I'm glad to hear you are so fond of my Eel Walker sculpture.
I just shipped out #7 of 20 to a collector in South Carolina. He had ordered a marble base for it that really makes the sculpture pop!
Here is a photo of it on the base.

[KatyL]

You're the boss, Mark. I am a little pink in the cheeks because your legs are similar to a WIP I was about to post today. Of course, I am not anywhere near your skill (yet).

[Dries]

It’s even better looking in bronze! I would not mind getting one for myself and I like the patina finish on the eel stunning. Overall just stunning.

[cougar]

Its been some time since I looked around here and low and behold !
This new work is as good or better than the Eal. I really enjoy looking at the pieces in clay, your patinas are great, there is something to say for the simplicity of one tone, you miss much of the shadow play with the patina, but then the finished work isn't clay ether.
I could study your work for hours.


At this point in your studies do you have to pay much attention to the bone structure mechanical features or do you go with surface features and gesture and leave the structural in the peripheral.
I believe both but every one has there way. I would love to see your work being fleshed out. Venus is a favored subject for me.

Thanks for posting, It really makes me want to get my stuff together !

Raul,

[MarkNewman]

Here is the patina a client chose for his copy. Traditional bronze finish. Not my first choice but I think it came out pretty good. This will be mounted to a 3 tiered black marble base and shipped to South Carolina.

[KatyL]

beautiful

[Kilkenny]

On the basis that you've read enough sheer admiration, I would add the following question and comment:

Question: I can admire the skill and craft, but what are your aesthetic objectives here?

Comment: Those breasts look like they are silicon-implanted to me, and you seem to strive towards a kind of physical perfection in the figure (even in the moulding technique you seem to wish to deny the presence of technique). The end effect for me is a sense of unreality, and perhaps even, in pose, form and manner, of cliche. I personally have a preference for REAL women, and if I want to be turned on it's the imperfections of real woman that are part of the magic. I find what you are doing completely unsexy, even though I have the gut feeling that you are setting out to create a sexy figure. Or perhaps what I mean here is that I find these figures sexy in the same way I find supermodels in glossy mags sexy....

[mantrid]

Everyone have different tastes in what they find attractive, sexy. The sculptor will produce a piece that is attractive to him/her, unless producing a commissioned piece for the tastes of someone else.

[Kilkenny]

The issue for me is not one of personal taste, Mandrid, and especially not supplying a market. That's sheer commercialism. In my comment above I was seeking to establish a point about art being tied to actuality, perhaps.

[mantrid]

Was just comparing the bronze to the clay. There appears to be some subtle differences in the detailing of the body, and the face also looks different. Is this due to you alterating the clay sculpture after the posted photo or is it just down to the moulding process, shrinkage in the bronze and the effect of patination?

[Kilkenny]

Yes, I did wonder about the differences myself.

[MarkNewman]

This piece is definitely an idealized or stylized representation of the female form as I see it. My reason for creating this piece was to express pure form, curves, line and movement throughout the sculpture, not to be an accurate, anatomical study of the female form. I did use model reference to a degree, photo only. By the way, his particular model did have ample breasts that were not silicone implants. I appreciate your comments Kilkenny. I don't expect to please everyone with my work, that would most likely drive any artist stop creating all together or just go completely bonkers.

I think there was some shrinkage in the casting process that slightly distorted her face. Hard to control.

[The Forge]

That is just another example of the creative work that you do. Your 'eel walker' is a sculpture that I have admired ever since you first showed it on here. Your new sculpture is just as remarkable as the first one. The inherent movement is captured at just the correct moment. Whether it is stylized or realistic is not the essence of the sculpture, it is the 'Moment of Inspiration' that defines what a sculpture will look like.

[Kilkenny]

I do like the lines in the work, Mark. It is particularly striking that the lines dominate the work more fully in the finished bronze. With the model, the realism dominates, with the result that the finished product is more like an art object than the former, which reminds me of an anatomical exercise.

The work is reminiscent, for me, of Art Deco figurines, as is the pose and hair styling, with the difference that in Art Deco the styling is more pronounced.

I have to admit to now being very sceptical about the representation of the female figure in art, especially when it is men doing the representing. For many years now the feminist tradition in the UK has been educating the eye to some of the inherent manipulations that the male inflicts on the female body in the precess of envisaging it. Some time ago a British novelist, Jeanette Winterson, wrote about Tracy Emin's etchings and drawings of the female figure, and spoke of the 'frustration of the male gaze' that Emin attempts in her work. I think this is important: the 'male gaze' has been acquisitive and has a history of 'objectification' of the female form. And I fear that, in the end, I feel the 'aren't I sexy' pose of this figure is aimed at just this male gazing.

[Mack]

I think the comments are interesting here. I think Mark's piece is extraordinary and the comments regarding the depiction of the female form in Art are good.I did try to do anatomically correct (somewhat) in the beginning and saw pretty early on that I had neither the patience nor the talent to do it. But I wanted to have the female form as the subject of my work ,it had to be somewhat representational with little or no detail....I was fortunate to come up with this piece early on: 'Lady in Black' (aka 'Reflections') At first it was pretty clumsy but over time I refined the line to the point where it satisfied me. And subsequent work was influenced by the simplicity of this early bronze.

[Kilkenny]

I like the lines of this piece too. Very Art Noveau. It doesn't suffer from the lack of detail - the more severe the simplicity the more powerful these pieces can become.

Made of?

[BobClyatt]

Originally Posted by Dries

Wow another great piece Mark, I still remember your “Eel Walker” and it’s still one of my all round favourite sculptures.

Agree, the Eel Walker piece still sticks in my mind -- a real feat of sculptural modeling and vision.

[BobClyatt]

I like this bronze patina, and never could get my foundries to quite achieve it. It has the feel of very old brass and by allowing the highlights warmth and light it avoids a common problem of making the whole piece too nutty brown and light-eating. If they'd like to share their ingredients, I'm taking notes ;-)

[mantrid]

Originally Posted by BobClyatt

I like this bronze patina, and never could get my foundries to quite achieve it. It has the feel of very old brass and by allowing the highlights warmth and light it avoids a common problem of making the whole piece too nutty brown and light-eating. If they'd like to share their ingredients, I'm taking notes ;-)

It looks like a basic liver of sulphur applied hot and rubbed back a few times followed by cold liver of sulphur, again possibly applied and rubbed back a few times. I think they didnt use ferric nitrate so avoiding that 'nutty' look. However, photographs and lighting can be deceiving so Im sure Mark will shed some light.

[MarkNewman]

I'm don't know a lot about applying patinas but I do know Aiya, the patina artist at Artworks foundry gave the sculpture a liver bath scrub down first pictured here from a cell phone shot i took. Then she torched it while praying something on it and dry brushing it down a bit. Then a final waxing after it cooled down. That was about it. Very simple.