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Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Grasping Beast
Hajime Emoto brings us this amazing mummified specimen. This piece, like his other works, is made from paper and bamboo. I'm continually amazed at how the truly talented can use the humblest of materials to create work like this.
I enjoy all sorts of of preserved or jarred, creatures, I think the mistake most creators make is coming up with creatures that follow natural laws and could have evolved deep underground or at the bottom of the ocean.
But I love asymetrical beasties like this, which could probably never have evolved outside of a dream.
It is really always nice to see what you can do with such materials. I think papermaché is still one of the very best materials to mimic old mummies and antique not-so-good taxidermy. I have learned from some experience that is can be really very hard to get this nice "warm" varnish-look which you can often see on old taxidermy specimens, especially fish and reptiles. It´s also not that easy to make a model really look like old taxidermy, and not just like a model. It can be - comparably - easy to make a model which comes close to a living thing, but it can be really hard to imitate the wrinkles, shriking and other traits of a dead and preserved specimen.
That's nicely crafted and the dome adds to the museum look. I would use it as a steampunk alien face hugger.
ReplyDelete@ CoastConFan
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw it the piece reminded me of the early concept sketches for "Alien". It's reminiscent of Ron Cobb's "hexapod" creature.
i thought it was a mummified hand at first
ReplyDeleteI enjoy all sorts of of preserved or jarred, creatures, I think the mistake most creators make is coming up with creatures that follow natural laws and could have evolved deep underground or at the bottom of the ocean.
ReplyDeleteBut I love asymetrical beasties like this, which could probably never have evolved outside of a dream.
It is really always nice to see what you can do with such materials. I think papermaché is still one of the very best materials to mimic old mummies and antique not-so-good taxidermy. I have learned from some experience that is can be really very hard to get this nice "warm" varnish-look which you can often see on old taxidermy specimens, especially fish and reptiles.
ReplyDeleteIt´s also not that easy to make a model really look like old taxidermy, and not just like a model. It can be - comparably - easy to make a model which comes close to a living thing, but it can be really hard to imitate the wrinkles, shriking and other traits of a dead and preserved specimen.
Truly amazing, any body knows of a tutorial to achieve this with paper mache???
ReplyDelete