I cast a series of noses as part of the development of my insecurities project. The idea behind this being that these are noses that would eventually become wearable, alternatives to my own nose.
I’ve not put anything on this blog for a good few months now. The reason for this is that I found out that some of my work had been plagiarised and I got a little disheartened by the whole situation so I thought that if I didn’t put any work up then none of it would get copied. I realise that in this industry nothing is original but it’s still a bit shit when your hard work is blatantly ripped.
However I am coming to the end of my degree and i’m realising that this blog is a good way of documenting the progression of my work and why shouldn’t I put my work up? From now on i’ll be putting work up regularly (hopefully) and fingers crossed i’ll have a website up and running in the future.
And to the unoriginal individual who has none of their own ideas, you are a shit human being.
My project is going in a whole new direction now and will be based on physical insecurities and exaggerating these to make freak ish portraits.
Starting with my own insecurity; my Michael Jackson-esque nose that was kindly pointed out to me at school on more than one occasion.
nadinelowe asked: Your work is GREAT!
ah thank you! I need to update the blog with current stuff big time. I like your mouth study, makes me wana get back into oil pastels dead bad
Ben.
Joseph Merrick goes to the theatre.
I can’t quite put into words how much I enjoy drawing The Elephant Man
(and also a little Elephant Man silhouette cameo that I made with a scrappy bit of leather)
i’ve hit a massive brick wall with this freak show project. I can’t seem to get motivated to draw or sew so i’ve gone back to the leather carving thing that up until now i’ve only done as a side hobby.
This is a portrait of Joseph Merrick who I have studied a fair bit in this body of work. He’s a fairly obvious person to study but it’s his story that I am drawn to above all else. I’d like to gear my work from February to June around illustrative narrative. Possibly illustrating Merrick’s story?
Anonymous asked: dude, love your shrunken heads. what materials did you make them with?
Hello, Anonymous.
To make the shrunken heads I put cushion stuffing inside lady’s tights and stitched into them to define the features. If you make them let me know, I want to see!
Ben.
Grace McDaniels, ‘The Mule Faced Lady’
A paper puppet I made when I was stuck for ideas, there’s no real reason for this but i’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere for the freak show members being exploited and manipulated possibly? I’d like to do more of these but maybe in a material a little more sturdy than paper.
in between sleeping and reading for my dissertation I have begun to experiment with more life like colours for the stitch illustrations. Next i’m looking into including text and maybe whole body images. Suggestions are welcome..
