The New Nature: Organic vs. Industrial
Title:The New Nature
Size:108cmx58cm Medium:Mixed Completed:February Intentions:Applying Marcel Duchamp's ability to make ordinary objects into unique pieces and keeping in mind the cultural beliefs of the Amish. I created an artwork that expresses my perspective of the new age world. I believe that the world has been overcome by inventions that replace mother nature for the sake of convenience and that one day nature will be completely eradicated. Made or Found:Both |
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Artist & Culture
Marcel Duchamp was a French Dadaist and Cubist artist. His sculptures are known for being made of everyday objects, but in a way so they are seen differently. I put a couple of gears together, some wood, and a metal pipe to create a lamp that had a deeper meaning. Industrialization has happened all over the world. I connected the meaning of my piece to the cultural beliefs of the Amish. "The Amish, who are well known for their horse-and-buggy lifestyle, live separately from the world and modern technology. That separation extends to foregoing electricity, since being tied into the electrical grid would constitute a connection to the outside word. This stems from the desire to avoid being "polluted" by the sin they see as rampant in the modern world." The invention of electricity has replaced sunlight and created light pollution. Nature has been replaced by fake beauty. Plastic, fabric leaves are the vain attempt at preserving nature's beauty, when in fact it is harming it by adding more plastic to the landfills! Demand for these products result in the construction of more factories! Recently a leaf that works and looks similar to a natural leaf was completely fabricated using science. Further evidence that mother nature will most likely be replaced or destroyed by technological advancements is that nearly every futuristic, science fiction movie begins this way. Why are the humans in space? Because we destroyed the Earth to the point that we needed to adapt to living in space. In the movie Soylent Green the humans were left with nothing but the bars they produced that contained the nutritional value they needed and when they found a tomato it was like they had discovered the Holy Grail. My lamp takes organic vs. industrial quite literally. My lamp has unnatural light trying to nurture unnatural plants. Industrialization of the world is taking over and harming the planet we live on.
Podnar, Patti. "5 Beliefs That Set the Amish Apart From Other Protestant Christians." Newsmax. N.p., 01 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Feb. 2015.
Marcel Duchamp was a French Dadaist and Cubist artist. His sculptures are known for being made of everyday objects, but in a way so they are seen differently. I put a couple of gears together, some wood, and a metal pipe to create a lamp that had a deeper meaning. Industrialization has happened all over the world. I connected the meaning of my piece to the cultural beliefs of the Amish. "The Amish, who are well known for their horse-and-buggy lifestyle, live separately from the world and modern technology. That separation extends to foregoing electricity, since being tied into the electrical grid would constitute a connection to the outside word. This stems from the desire to avoid being "polluted" by the sin they see as rampant in the modern world." The invention of electricity has replaced sunlight and created light pollution. Nature has been replaced by fake beauty. Plastic, fabric leaves are the vain attempt at preserving nature's beauty, when in fact it is harming it by adding more plastic to the landfills! Demand for these products result in the construction of more factories! Recently a leaf that works and looks similar to a natural leaf was completely fabricated using science. Further evidence that mother nature will most likely be replaced or destroyed by technological advancements is that nearly every futuristic, science fiction movie begins this way. Why are the humans in space? Because we destroyed the Earth to the point that we needed to adapt to living in space. In the movie Soylent Green the humans were left with nothing but the bars they produced that contained the nutritional value they needed and when they found a tomato it was like they had discovered the Holy Grail. My lamp takes organic vs. industrial quite literally. My lamp has unnatural light trying to nurture unnatural plants. Industrialization of the world is taking over and harming the planet we live on.
Podnar, Patti. "5 Beliefs That Set the Amish Apart From Other Protestant Christians." Newsmax. N.p., 01 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Feb. 2015.
I planned out my lamp construction by creating sketches from a variety of angles. This provided me with a visual of how I predicted my lamp looking. It also made it easier to explain my idea to my dad who was a major contributor to this project.
Tools
Drill Press- drilling holes into wood and metal bracket
Metal Bracket- support bracket for the tubing 3/8'' Straight Compression Fitting- to hole the tubing in place 3/8'' Tubing- to support the light socket and wires run inside of it Light Socket with Switch-to hold the light bulb Tubing Bender- to bend the tube Tap- to tap the threads for the tubing fitting Hand Saw and Wood Chisel- to put the groves in the back of the wood disk for the wires Tubing Cutter- to cut the tubing to desired length Three Gears Different in Color and Size- to create the look I was searching for Bushings- to center the gear on the tubing Wood Disk/ Part of Wood Spool- was the base for my lamp |
Ruler- for measuring
Round file- to improve clearance in the disk for the tubing fitting Screw & Screw Driver- to secure the metal bracket to the disk Wrenches- to screw the compression fitting into the metal plate Wire Cutters & Strippers- to attach wire to light socket and the plug Hammer- to pound the nails into the wall hanger, and to pound the nail into the wall to hang the lamp onto the wall Wall Hanger- attached to the disk so the lamp could be hung Medium Sized Lamp Shade- to shade the light of the light bulb Brown Paints-to make the lamp shade color more appealing when decorated with leaves Foam Brush- to transfer the paint onto the lampshade Variety of Fabric Leaves- to decorate the lampshade Craft Glue- to adhere the leaves the the lampshade |
Construction Process
I would like to take this opportunity to give credit to my father, Joe. My dad was the one who made this project possible. He had access to all these tools that I needed to construct this lamp. He also took time out of his nights for a couple of weeks to work patiently with me and make my image come to life.
We began by gathering the materials most of which were found at my father's work. For example, we disassembled a gearbox to find the gears I was searching for. The wood disk was a part of an antique, vintage, spool my father had kept in the basement for over 25 years. This is something he is none too happy about giving away in the name of art. Other materials like the lampshade and the wires were purchased from the nearest Walmart. We arranged these materials according to my sketches. This gave us an idea of what we would have to do to make these pieces, parts, and things come together to create a whole.
We began by gathering the materials most of which were found at my father's work. For example, we disassembled a gearbox to find the gears I was searching for. The wood disk was a part of an antique, vintage, spool my father had kept in the basement for over 25 years. This is something he is none too happy about giving away in the name of art. Other materials like the lampshade and the wires were purchased from the nearest Walmart. We arranged these materials according to my sketches. This gave us an idea of what we would have to do to make these pieces, parts, and things come together to create a whole.
Before we could attach anything we needed to put a grove on the back side of the disk for the wire to lay in. We accomplished this by hand sawing two groves 1/4'' apart and a 1/4'' inch deep and then we chiseled out the bottom. This provided a nice groove for the wire to lay in to allow the disk to lay flat against the wall. At this time we also attached the wall hanger to the top, center of the disk. We had to design a mounting bracket so the tubing would remain attached to the disk. We evenly measured, spaced, and drilled out three holes at the top of the bracket to secure the bracket to the disk. The three holes were filled with 10 3/4'' screws which were later screwed to the disk.
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For the compression fitting we drilled and tapped 3/8''' This bracket ensured the the metal tubing, which supported the light, would remain attached the the wooden disk. Next we had to secure the compression fitting to the bracket. We drilled a hole and tapped the hole with a 3/8''-18 tap in the center of the bracket. This but threads into the bracket to screw in the compression fitting. We secured the bracket to the disk.Then we used a hammer to tap the bushings into the gears. These bushings were made with a 3/8'' hole in the center to accept the 3/8'' tubing. next we sacked the gears on top of the disk in the desired order, slid the tubing through the gears into the compression fitting and marked the tubing for the 90 degree bend. Using the tubing bender we bent the tubing.
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Using the tubing cutter we cut the tubing to the desired height (about and inch above the top of the disk), and we deburred the inside of the tubing. Next we attached the light socket to the top of the tubing. We did this by sliding the wires through the tubing, stripping the wires, and attached it to the socket itself. We cut the cord to length and attached the plug. We used a multi-meter for correct polarity to make sure it was safe to operate. Lastly we tightened the set screw with an Allen wrench to keep the gears securely in place.
Decorating the lampshade was very simple compared to the construction of the lamp. All I did was paint the shade with two different brown paints and us craft glue to permanently attach the fabric leaves where I wanted them to be.
Decorating the lampshade was very simple compared to the construction of the lamp. All I did was paint the shade with two different brown paints and us craft glue to permanently attach the fabric leaves where I wanted them to be.
Reflection
This was the most time consuming project I have worked on in a long while. Every little thing took what seemed like forever to complete because we needed to find the tools and then learn how to properly use them. However, my Dad was a great mentor and helped me understand the process. I also developed new skills in a variety of tools I have never used before! This lamp does not only function properly, but looks amazing too. It expresses my views and opinions accurately. If I were to do this project again, I would like to focus on making a piece that was organic look industrial or a piece that was industrial look more organic, instead of taking organic vs. industrial literally.