The Haze

Something that has happened in Contemporary History.

If you think about the year 2020 so much has already happened.

It’s gotten to the point where people are talking about how bad 2020 is and they have no expectations of it getting better.

Funny-Jokes-2020Funny-Jokes-2020

 

There’s also the Presidential election coming up in November and the shit show along with that.

I wanted to watch the debate, I did watch the debate and I was thoroughly disappointed but also amused. Amused by the remarks made by Biden to Trump since he couldn’t stop interrupting but disappointed since the debate was just them arguing and not them speaking on their policies.

Since 2020 has been just a complete shit show that meant that I had so much to look through and work with.

 

Some events that caught my eye were the bush fires in Australia where 46 million acres of land were burned. That’s roughly the size of Syria.

Map of Australia Fires_Dec 6 2019

2019-2020 Australian Bushfires

And then came the California Wildfires. Although I’m not experiencing this firsthand I do have family living in California. Their safety and health are something I worry about daily.

These images are from https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2020/sep/09/california-skies-glow-orange-as-wildfires-continue-in-pictures

The skies in California are glowing orange with the forest fires.

The San Francisco Bay Bridge is seen under an orange smoke-filled sky.The scene from the Embarcadero looking across to the Bay Bridge to Oakland as smoke blankets San Francisco in darkness and an orange glow on Wednesday.San Francisco’s skyline is obscured in dense orange smoke and haze as seen in this view from Treasure Island.

So the fact that the President is doing nothing about this or any of the other major problems that the country is afflicted by is frustrating.

 

 

What I came to

I decided I wanted to create a piece that deals with a lot of people’s ignorance of climate change in a commentary kind of way.

I want to create a fort that is filled with comfort and everything people know in their bubbles that they call their life.

I was thinking of creating some at home forts, made out of sheets, blankets, string lights, basically everything that can be gathered at home.

The surrounding area will be blacked out our covered in a black curtain and on the opposite side there will a window casting an orange shadow into the space.

October 20th, 2020

As I’m planning out this next piece I find myself wanting to incorporate the “comfort” segment of the piece less and less.

I’m being more drawn to a scene of the window.

 

It’s a dark atmosphere most likely signifying a bedroom at night.

The area would most likely be blacked out with curtains or something similar.

The only thing visible would be the window and the orange hazy glow emanating from the window.

How far I want that Orange glow to emanate is still a mystery. This is based on how I create the base of the window and what is in front of the lighting that would possibly diffuse it.

 

October 29, 2020

As my sculpture slowly comes together I realize the many areas where I could have done something better. It’s inevitable for that to happen but when it happens the night before critique is when I freak out.
Although it isn’t how I want it to be completed, I am satisfied with what I got.

These are in the moment images of how I had the sculpture set up.

It was propped on a ledge, surrounded by black curtains. The acrylic screen was painted and lined with led lights. I then had a lamp to further extend that illumination. Everything was either held up with thumbtacks, tape, or my significant other’s hands.

The video then shows the opposite side of the work.

 

Final Work

The Haze