The Results Are In!

The Soap Carving Process

As I mentioned in my previous post about this project, carving soap challenged me greatly because it involved thinking about "mark making" in a very new way. I ended up titling my piece "Animal Testing" not only because my created piece played with materials actually tested on animals then "tested" on my sculpted animal (phew, that's a mouthful), but also because it tested this animal right here. I was frustrated, exhausted, and anxious I'd take off too much and ruin the entire piece during the majority of my carving. I am glad this project tested me, however, because it proved that even though the end result might not be amazing, I can make it through just about any project. The results are in: I can carve soap.(Perhaps not very well, but hey, with practice, who knows - I might create the next David, this time out of soap!)   

Process Pictures

The key is to start by blocking out the general shape of the animal form. We were cautioned not to get too specific too soon. Everything should stay quite chunky in the beginning (even though my tiger never quite lost that "baby fat"). 

For my second carving, I realized I needed to right away cut off a chunk of the soap and then begin my carving. The orientation of the soap was not conducive to the form of the tiger, as I found out in my first carving. The piece I cut off actually served as the material for my tails.  

Making the tail was definitely one of the most challenging parts of the carving process. It was difficult just figuring out how to create the shape!

Final Piece: "From-Life" Carving

Tiger & Tiger

One of the biggest issues I have with my final piece is its chunkiness. I am fairly happy with my proportions (except the head) and general form, but my wariness when it came to cutting down the legs made for a thick cat. I did a tiger in honor of my cat, Tiger, though perhaps I should've done a very stumpy bear, something more on my level.

   
Final Piece: "Created" Transformation Piece

"Animal Testing"

The concept behind my created piece arose from the ethical and pragmatic dilemma surrounding animal testing. In an earlier post I explained the process of subtraction and addition that led to this final piece, however I did not fully describe the "method" behind my madness. (And I'm pretty sure it was madness, as the fumes from the hot toothpaste, soap, and lip gloss burrowed deeply into my brain.) The experimental process through which I put my tiger mirrored the larger, often grossly transformative nature of animal testing. By making my created piece so radically different from its original from-life sculpture, I emphasized the ways in which inhumane testing (and treatment, in general) "thingifies," or commodifies, actual living beings. The end result is both clinical and messy, structured and random, something and nothing.

      

What Does Tiger Think?

I think she likes it!

Janine Antoni

To prepare for our soap carving project, we were to watch a segment on artist Janine Antoni, creator of Lick & Lather (1993). I gleaned much from her Art 21 video, as I do from every episode of the series. My art teacher in high school often had us watch Art 21 segments; I actually still have my 10th and 11th grade notes about James Turrell, Mark Bradford, Laylah Ali, Maya Lin, Laurie Anderson, and Pepón Osorio, among others. It's an undeniably wonderful resource for expanding one's knowledge of contemporary artists and practices as well as finding inspiration.

Chocolate, left, and soap, right

"Cleaning the body with the body / Feeding oneself with the body"

Here's what I scribbled while watching Janine Antoni's video: 

• Stories held in the material
• The taking apart of things - what things are made of. Taking apart to understand
• Body as a tool, the maker of experience
• CLUES
• Cow drinking from bath - reversal of relationship: breasts and the archetype of the Virgin Mary
• The importance of "holding"
• Our distance from the true source of things
• Submission / absence
• What is "me-ness"?
• Chunk from ear that falls off while she washes herself with herself, both sad and beautiful
• Loving = erasing?
• The tightrope, the horizon: balance comes from being comfortable with being out of balance
• Learning leads to learning leads to learning

One thing I love about the Art 21 series is that every episode is, in itself, a work of art. For example, in Antoni's segment, the editors used her found objects rope piece, Moor (2001), to link the episode together. By using images of the rope for transitions, they made the pragmatic and symbolic aspect of the object-to tie or bring things together-an essential part of the video. Moor reminds me why I am a bit of a packrat...I love collecting things and putting them together to create meaning. There's nothing quite like holding an item, especially a personal one, and feeling the electricity of all it's ever meant and will ever mean surge through your body.

Just a small segment of the rope, but it contains so many lives

 "If I don’t have an experience with the object, how can I hope that the viewer will have an experience with the object?" - Antoni

Animal Testing: Soap Carving and Form Changing

Soap Carving: An Overview

Besides my patience, the soap carvings project really tested my ability to apply previous problem solving solutions to a new medium. I had never really sculpted seriously before this assignment; though familiar with Play-doh and those coil pots everyone makes in art class on "clay day," subtracting from a form with carving tools proved much more complicated than sculpting (with the ability to add to and easily "fix") a piece. I felt a lot like SpongeBob in the episode "Artists Unknown" when he talks about the process of really knowing one's marble before beginning to work with it.

        

YOU GOTTA BE THE MARBLE!

Unlike SpongeBob, I'm not sure if I ever really "became" my soap. But one thing is for certain: I will never, ever be able to forget the smell of Fiorentino peony and seaside body bars. 

Professional pictures of my final pieces are forthcoming. Below, however, is the process one of my sculptures underwent to transform into a new object. Miss Laura said, "If it feels wrong, that probably means you should do it." Well, I did it...and let's just say that things got pretty nasty.

Creating a New Form: Addition and Subtraction

  

I started out with this lumpy critter as my animal form.

I then grated the tiger's head and tail. (Subtraction) 

This resulted in a pile of soap shavings, which I then scooped into a Ziploc bag, mixed with purple ink, and put in the freezer (depicted below). 

Because I had grated off the tiger's tail, the stick that held it to the tiger's body was no longer necessary. So I used the extraneous stick to poke holes all over the tiger's body. (Subtraction)

Going along my concept, which I will explain later in greater detail, I tried to use mostly cosmetic/bathroom products. Consequently, I covered the tiger with Crest toothpaste. (Addition)

I then stuck the tiger in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I felt really bad about it, but it had to be done. (Subtraction/Addition)

While the tiger baked, I created a simple form of tiny Dixie cups (used for water, mouthwash, etc.).  

This is when things started to get stinky. A strange, clinical odor emanated from the oven, especially in the last few minutes of the baking process. It smelled like a dentist's office, but one where something was definitely amiss. The toothpaste had bubbled and formed a crusty layer over the soap.

I then cut the tiger into three pieces (Subtraction)

As if things didn't already stink enough, I decided to add lip gloss to the mix. Using the cosmetic like glue, I put the pieces back together. (Addition)

Then came my worst/best idea: to microwave the tiger on high for 1 minute. I stopped at about :40 because the microwave started smoking and it smelled really, really horrible. However, after letting it rest for a bit, I was able to finish the minute. (Subtraction/Addition) 

The odor of the hot, mutated soap/toothpaste/lip gloss nearly made me puke at least four times after taking it out of the microwave.

While trying not to vom, I scooped the fluffy mush into the Dixie cups (pictured below). (Addition) I also discarded the material that did not fit into the cup structure. (Subtraction)

I then stuck Q-Tips into the mixture. (At this point, everything smelled so bad that I slowly felt my body shutting down.) (Addition)   

After placing the form in an aluminum baking pan, I took the inked shavings out of the freezer and sprinkled it over top the whole thing. (Addition)

FINALLY...

"Animal Testing"