Nice yesterday!

Hi Miguel it was nice to skype with you yesterday.

Here I am sending you an image of the spoken cap!!! Not Swarovski crystals though…

Keeping in touch, Leonor

me and my cap, 08.12.09

me and my cap, 08.12.09

Here’s the image I mentioned…

museo de oro, colombia

museo de oro, colombia

Hi Leonor,

This was from el Museo de Oro in Bogotá this past August. A lot of hardware…

and the presence/absence of the figure articulated in the display.

hardwearing

Hi Miguel great photo the golden apparatus. Very beautiful and the fact the body is absent it seems to enhance its power.

Few weeks ago I saw a documentary about the Inca and the interesting thing was that in the documentary they actually talked about a previous empire in which people were the masters in working gold. Lambayeque Empire it seemed to be previous to the Inca and an inspiration in many sources. Golden masks after the image of Nyamlap (their God) were a cult for those who could afford emulate him.

I found this mask which is very much after his image.

gold_mask_lima

gold_mask_lima

These masks within the idea of an identity projected to the generality fascinates me. It’s not very far from the street wear you were focused on. In both there is somehow the desire to match, to belong somewhere and somehow, to be accepted, integrated and adored. To be one and all.

states of mind

illustration, LH 2009

illustration, LH 2009

Cheers!

photo, LH 2009

photo, LH 2009

getting started

Hi Miguel as we spoke last Sunday via skype and being both staring to grip some shapes I am sending you some pics of the process. My work, gaining now some consistence, it will be based on resins, metal and rubber, by using similar techniques as in Fragments, the ones you’ve just saw in my site http://www.leonorhipolito.com

I find your sculpy a very nice medium as well and it can make you discover really great forms. Its tactility permits you to imprint the sensuality you were referring to, perhaps not in the most precise way but expressively.

Good work!

preparation to mix the resin and pour it into a recipient

raw fragments of casted resin

paper studies

plasticine studies

Parallel forms and process

Hi Leonor!

I love your work from the Fragments series and after talking with you more about your materials and process, I realized that we have some commonalities in our work here..

This image of yours below particularly signaled parallels in both form and materials, reminding me of the undulating forms I engaged when creating a fiberglass speaker enclosure for my Piragua cart-bicycle sculpture. Although the final objects are quite different, they share similar sculptural paths…

From the Fragments series - Leonor Hipólito, 2008

From the Fragments series - Leonor Hipólito, 2008

Here are some in-process images of the Piragua cart-bicycle I mentioned. The title of the project is Pimp my Piraguaa mobile public art project that commemorates the innovations of Latino street vendors, transforming a traditional pushcart for selling shaved ice (Piraguas) into a hyper-modified pushcart-tricycle with a hi-fi sound and video system.

The cart started with a wood and mdf  frame:

wood, mdf frame for pushcart, ML 2008

wood, mdf frame for pushcart, ML 2008

Next, the wood frame is stretched over with polyester fleece…

Miguel Luciano 2008

fleece-covered speaker enclosure, ML 2008

The fleece is then covered with resin to harden the structure, and reinforced with fiberglass…

fiberglass reinforced structure, ML 2008

fiberglass reinforced structure, ML 2008

The entire structure was then covered in automotive resin putty and sanded meticulously for weeks…

sanding and smoothing the surface, ML 2008

sanding and smoothing the surface, ML 2008

Next, the structure is sprayed with an automotive primer paint, then sanded again before final painting…

spraying primer, ML 2008

spraying primer, ML 2008

The final paint is a metalic orange automotive paint with a few coats of clear….

final paint, ML 2008

final paint, ML 2008

Finally, the speakers, stereo, and video monitors are installed and the cart is mounted on the tricycle frame…

Pimp my Piragua, ML 2008

Pimp my Piragua, ML 2008

The project becomes interactive and performative as I take it into the community, playing music, video and selling Piraguas (shaved ice)…

Pimp my Piragua, Brooklyn, NY.       ML 2009

Pimp my Piragua, Brooklyn, NY. Photo: J.Irani, 2009

Pimp my Piragua, Brooklyn, NY.         ML, 2009

Pimp my Piragua, Brooklyn, NY. Photo: J.Irani, 2009

Pimp my Piragua, Brooklyn, NY.         ML, 2009

Pimp my Piragua, Brooklyn, NY. Photo: J.Irani, 2009

Processing parallel forms

It is really nice to see your images work-in-progress. The forms and process of our works really do have something in common…

In what way do you see this parallelism influencing your work for the gray area?

I am getting my first pieces ready but I still didn’t have time to document them. They have something in common with Fragments and Human Patterns, with the same materials as well – resins, plexiglass, metal (silver) and rubber.
I see as well a link to your work in the way both, mine and yours, invite people’s input. I see your work reciprocrating their psychological process through direct action/interaction.
There is a tip of the subcouncious that is lift up and people get to see and feel something familiar but usually not by own initiative recalled.

Here I am attaching an image of the series Human Patterns for you to get an idea of a similar facet in my work for WGA.

Human Patterns, LH 2008

Human Patterns, LH 2008

Carrying a message

Hi Leonor,

I was moved yesterday by something unexpected,  it wasn’t a pleasant experience to be sure, but it allowed me to connect in a compassionate way with a creature that I had overlooked and perhaps been ambivalent towards previously. On my way home from the studio, I saw an injured bird struggling to fly from the street. I was confused at first as to what I was seeing as a tormenting onlooker was cheering for the bird to be hit by passing cars… really sick. I will spare you the details, but will say that the bird did lift off and fly before the next car passed. It was an injured pigeon…

It made me reflect on the cruelty of some, the lack of compassion and sensitivity towards other living creatures… and especially the common disregard for pigeons specifically, which are considered somewhat of a public nuisance to many in the city. Whatever people’s feelings about pigeons, I have no tolerance for cruelty to any animals.. and I began reflecting on these creatures and their significance in the world – which unexpectedly re-connected me to our project..

Homing pigeons as messenger birds were among the earliest forms of long distance communication, carrying messages thousands of years ago (before blogging) as far back as the Egyptian period… they have an internal map and compass that allows them to be incredible and intuitive navigators. They’ve carried messages back and forth in different lands and cultures for millennia… they were the first system of post/mail even.  As we pass images, ideas and notes back and forth over this blog, it made me reflect on this bird as a symbol, as a carrier of messages that travel and migrate…

Below are a few images of early carrier pigeons. These birds were even fitted with cameras by a German apothecary who sent medicines and prescriptions back and forth 100 years ago…

Homing pigeons fitted with cameras, c.1903

Homing pigeons fitted with cameras, c.1903

Aerial views from wingtips...

Aerial views from their wingtips...

Here is an old engraving of Messenger Pigeons… notice the note tied around the ankle

Messenger Pigeons (Harper's Engraving)

Messenger Pigeons (Harper's Engraving)

Detail of a note, a message

Detail of a note, a message

So I want to play with this idea, of the note or a message, tied to the wrist or to the ankle like a bracelet or adornment perhaps. I’m also interested in engaging  ideas of flight, communication, distance and migration.. am experimenting in the studio with found objects, and other materials..

send me a post : )

-Miguel

Conclusion

Dear Andrea and Valeria, I am very thankful for your invitation for which I made 5 works entitled Anatomy of Thought as a result of my enthusiasm for this project. I congratulate you for the great work you’re doing and which I believe will conclude in a great success.

Congratulations to my colleagues, with my special thanks to Dani and Francisca with whom I had the pleasure to exchange some messages. To José Springer and to my partner Miguel with whom I’ve enjoyed sharing some thoughts.

In the image you can see one brooch from the series. This is the first image of my finished work I post in the blog and is dedicated to all of you.

With love, Leonor

Anatomy of though on Martin Kullik, 2010

Anatomy of thought on Martin Kullik, 2010

one more

Anatomy of Thought on André Sousa

Anatomy of Thought on André Sousa, 2010

to Leonor…

the  shape of  a thought ...

coração branco

Seeing…

Hi Leonor,

Following up on our recent correspondence, below are some images of what’s emerged.

I took some inspiration from your resin forms and process as I decided on what to finally make. In several recent drawings/paintings I have used the motif of a hovering eye – a kitsch, cartoonish eye that emerges from electric chakras, engaging notions of cosmic-vision and transcendence. While the imagery is kitsch and playful, the idea of transcendence and seeing beyond is something I’m actually quite interested in. Below are a few images for reference, followed by the final outcome, sort of a brooch-object with a candy-like finish.

Cosmic_Taino_SeeingthruPurple_500

Cosmic Taino seeing through Purple, acrylic on paper, 17" x 14", 2009

eye

Experimenting with polymer forms

Experimenting with polymer forms

Third eye (indigo blue), Acrylic, enamel, resin

Third eye (indigo blue), Acrylic, enamel, resin, ML 2010

brooch, side view

Third eye (indigo blue), brooch - side view