Assignment #2
Digital Assemblage
I really love assemblage sculpture. I believe there is great power in found objects, things that accumulate in our world and lives that go unseen yet are brimming with meaning and context. I found snacks to be an interesting genre of object to explore. These small consumables are rarely considered as individual units. Instead they are usually taken in the context of volume. A bag of chips or a bowl of snacks, etc. In a way his was an attempt to see the trees for the forest.
I began by selecting snacks that I felt had interesting and recognizable forms. I went with Cheetos, Doritos, and Bugles. I then proceeded to scan them on the 3d scanner, which I discovered to be a really fun tool to use.
Below you can see the scanning process as well as the final .stl model that was produced. The Dorito was challenging because it is so thin. While the model I captured is interesting in it’s own right, I opted to not use it as it ceases to look like a Dorito anymore and it would be very difficult to print.
I began playing with assembly and almost immediately latched onto this biomorphic form.
It reminds me of an Orthoceras, a prehistoric mollusk I drew a lot when I was young. I like how the snack forms cease to be snacks when assembled together. The Cheetos are now tentacles, the Bugle is a body/shell.
Here is the printed object. It stands 5 inches tall and looks pretty good. Again, I am impressed with the fidelity in the print in certain areas, like the Cheeto surface for instance.
Prepping the print for foundry. The white surface treatment is a slurry treatment that when hardened, I can pour molten aluminum into for its final form.
