I took inspiration from Damien Hirst, John LeKay and Vladimir Anselm to create my own rendition of a crystal skull.
Problem Solving:
Problem 1: Materials: I would like to achieve a clear, crystalline effect. But, I have no access to diamonds, and paradichlorobenzene is a dangerous substance to work with.
Solved: Stick to borax or alum. I will experiment with borax first because it acts more quickly.
Problem 2: I have no access to a human skull.
Solved: Source a fake one.
I chose paper, because the crystals I plan to use will adhere better to paper than plastic.
About the size of a mug.
Process:
1. I suspended the paper skull in a richly saturated borax solution.
I sprinkled some extra borax over and on top of the solution afterwards, so that it would land on the skull and provoke the crystals to grow in the right place.
The paper skull was buoyant and refused to stay underwater, so I placed 3 or 4 2p coins inside to weigh it down.
5 or 6 hours later, I could see the crystals beginning to form.
In the morning the crystals had completely overtaken the jar.
This is the crystal skull immediately after being removed from the jar.
It was delicate, wet and shiny. I took some photos whilst it was still wet, because I loved how the crystals appeared transparent.
I took some inspiration from Tyler Thrasher for the presentation of this piece. I tried to use real mineral points to frame the skull.
They are quartz points, and quartz is usually clear or white like borax crystals.
Below I tried to incorporate the genuine crystals into my artificial crystals. I think that it works well, and I feel that the photograph is very successful.
I used photoshop to alter the colouring of the image below, to make it look like the crystals are natural amethyst.
I experimented wildly with the colours of another photograph. It looks psychedelic and bright. It looks beautiful, but it is not the effect I am going for. I want an ethereal, delicate look.
I think that this level of colour is acceptable, but still removes from the natural beauty of the photograph.
I experimented with removing colour from the photographs altogether, in order to allow the viewer to focus on the form of the piece rather than the colours.
Also, monochrome matches the pieces of the artists I am taking inspiration from. Hirst, LeKay and Anselm all made skulls purely in black and white.
I already think that the images look much better in strongly contrasting black and white. The lack of colour draws interest to the formations of the crystals, and how they reflect the light.
I experimented with placing certain images on black backgrounds using photoshop, taking inspiration from the display of "For The Love Of God".
I think that these images are very powerful and successful, as they force you to pay attention to the main subject and attempt to decipher what it is.
I openly accept that it does not much like a skull from some angles -
BUT, I also think that adds to the effect, as both LeKay and Anselm's skull pieces are deformed and irregular in shape..
After the skull had dried, it lost a great deal of its transclucent qualities. The crystals clouded and became almost completely white. I still think that it looks beautiful. Here it is pictured with some genuine minerals from my collection.
I may take some higher standard photographs of the clouded skull at some point, but I fear they will not have the same impact as the original translucent crystals.
The above was mostly a response to Hirst and LeKay. I decided to take it one step further by editing my photographs in order to match Anselm's signature dark style.
I used an online tool to invert the colours of the black and white images I had taken before. This turned black to white and white to black, making the white crystals appear sunken and dark, LIKE COAL, whilst making the background white.
It is not quite as effective as using coal.
But it does carry that slightly otherworldly, intimidating aura that Anselm's pieces carry.
Inverted images generally look wrong because everything that we would assume to be light is dark.
It is like an optical illusion or trick of the light.
They appear eerie and almost suitable for a horror genre poster, in my opinion.
The above image specifically reminds me of a black and white print, maybe using ink or cyanotype.
I used Paint Tool SAI to add colour to this image using a layer effect.
I am interested in prints - especially cyanotypes. I will explore the artist Anna Atkins, who created cyanotypes of natural forms such as leaves, feathers and plants in the 1800s.
See a separate post for a further development of this idea.
REVIEW:
What did I do?:
I crystallised a paper skull using a saturated borax solution, and experimented with photography and photomanipulation.
Why did I do it?
I wanted to create a response to Damien Hirst, John LeKay and Vladimir Anselm's crystal skulls.
I used the materials that I did to conform to health and safety rules, ethical rules and budget rules.
How did it go?
I did not achieve the effect that I wanted to entirely. I would have originally liked the skull to be COMPLETELY engulfed in crystal so that the paper beneath was no longer visible. However, the top of the skull is very sparsely decorated. I thought that this would be a problem, but in reality, I find that it is more effective. It makes the viewer question what is real and what is not.
Did I achieve the effect that I wanted to?
No, (because of the above) but I achieved an even greater feat. I thought that it would be very obvious that it was a paper skull, but a passer by seemed very concerned and genuinely asked whether it was some kind of monkey skull. I like this idea of disillusion of what is real and what is not.
What meaning does it carry?
Once again I am carrying themes of life, death and immortality. Crystals, although delicate, are immortal. Thus, meaning anything that I grow crystals onto will be immortal with them.
The idea that a SKULL is immortal is very ironic and intriguing. Not to mention that skulls are supposed to carry connotations of death, fear, discomfort and darkness, whereas crystals are the complete opposite. Crystals are precious, loved, respected and desireable.
They glimmer in the light like diamonds which could also connote wealth.
Finally, a theme that I have carried throughout my project is the juxtaposition between organic and geometric shapes. The skull is round with no harsh edges, whereas the crystals are sharp and blocky. This contrast in aesthetics is interesting to me, and I feel that it brings our attention to the many shapes that naturally occur in nature.
What would I do differently next time?
I may use a skull that looked more realistic, and I may swap the borax crystals for alum. Alum crystals can grow much larger than borax crystals depending on how long they are allowed to sit. E.G if I left my skull to bathe in borax for a week, the crystals would remain the same. But alum crystals would slowly grow day by day until the crystals were the size of coins or larger. I wonder how this would affect the impact of the piece, as the shape of the skull would be inevitably deformed by the large crystals.
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