Fine Arts Sculpts
ROLE
3D modeler
DESCRIPTION
In December of 2022, I participated in a group exhibition called In The Machine at the 4Most Gallery in Gainesville Florida. This show examined how people interact with art in physical and digital spaces. For my contribution to the show, I created busts that explored how surface imperfection is an inherent part of tactile sculptural work, but harder to achieve in digital spaces where the default surface is already smooth.
YEAR
2022
GENRE
Character Sculpts
SOFTWARE
Maya, ZBrush, Substance 3D
This digital sculpture of American Civil War General William T. Sherman discusses the idea of monuments, particularly in the contemporary political climate. Using a combination of converted displacement maps and tools in Zbrush, I carved the brick texture through a removal process. Sculptures of this in the physical world would generally use an additive approach to build an object out of brick. General Sherman, famous for his March to the Sea in 1864, is well known for his Army's path of destruction from Atlanta to Savannah. In this digital sculpt, I explore the idea of creating a monument, through creating a realistic bust, and then carving destructive lines into it.
Using a Digital Clay plugin in Zbrush, I wanted to reconnect with my ceramics foundations with this digital sculpture. It was important for me to capture surface refinement that alluded to clay. In digital sculpture, the process of refinement is conveyed through levels of detail. In ceramic sculpture, refinement can be more gestural. We can see the fingerprints of the artist, the scrapes of tools, and the loose arrangement of clay forms. With digital sculpture, those tool marks and imperfections must be added in and supported at higher levels of detail. This piece explores the idea of "finished work" in both physical and digital spaces.
Exhibition
In The Machine was exhibited from December 23rd 2022-January 14th 2023 and featured the work of 4 artists. The show was covered by Channel 4 News in Gainesville and attended by University of Florida students, faculty, and staff as well as the local community.
