Donkeys & Feathers

Year: 2014
Team: Emmanuel Osorno, Sina Ozbudun

Donkeys & Feathers consists of a simple vessel like form that has been articulated through the application of an intricate ornamental/decorative motif. The vessels are cusped into sharp creases in two locations along the two main axis of symmetry. This gives the object two very different figural profiles and increases the desire for manual rotation as the eye cannot reduce the figure to a single contour. The articulation comes from a series of drawing/paintings titled Guilded Splinters. These images have a symmetrical organization that is then exploited in their application to the objects. Where the symmetry of the applied drawing matches the cusp line of the object the motif works ornamentally to focus attention on the object's form. When the articulation crosses over and ignores the object's form, the patterning appears more decorative and surface related. This creates an instability in the relation between form and articulation, a tension between the object and its qualities. These applied motifs are transformed to create a family of objects with different aesthetic qualities. The four objects presented here are titled Hot Stone, Geological, Sinew, and Fuzzy Feathers. These titles refer to the different qualities that each object suggests. The aesthetics play at the relations between the optical and the tactile where color, texture, detail all begin to allude to shifts in the character of each object. They are fabricated in color as digital prints, then treated with glazes to further shift the associations. Each object has a different implied materiality than the actual powder that they are printed from, and these material associations give them a strange reality.