Cardboard

After looking at the Pet Shop Boys and the costumes that their designers have created for them I wanted to try and use cardboard to get some sharp, angular and geometric shaped headpieces.

I began starting with paper to create a cone and large glasses to recreate an outfit from their music video 'can you forget her' where the duo where orange and white stripey cone hats with sunglasses. The paper is flimsy and doesn't stay upright, and overall I am not pleased with this piece because I am recreating something that has already been done rather than basing it off one of my drawings. I like how the pointed form of the piece elongates the body and reflects the length of the legs and I do like the way it covers the face, which is becoming a recurring theme in my pieces.

After making the cone headpiece I was thinking about the Pet Shop Boys and the media and how our generation is very reliant on the media and technology. When I began making this headpiece I again had the Pet Shop Boys in mind with their iconic neon cube head costumes, and I had initially intended for it to be a giant cardboard coloured cube. However, because I was thinking about the media it began to take the form of a TV and i just rolled with it. I began using materials that I had to hand like tape, faux fur and animal masks and it became this peculiar mask type headpiece. It was fun to think through making in this way and not worry too much about the final outcome. I think this piece definitely has a slightly sinister and unnerving feel to it because of the giraffe mask being embedded into a TV and not just on a head normally. This is because usually you would see the wearers eyes through the mask but now they are just hollow and dark. This feel is heightened for the wearer because they can still see through the material and the eyes of the mask as I cut holes in the material. This creates a disjointed and detached view of the world which i like because the wearer can see but for all the audience knows they are blind. Again this piece wasn't based on an initial drawing or planned idea of my own, which is why I think the outcome isn't as strong as some of my other work. This makes me think about the importance of my drawings and whether I need to be considering them as works of art i their own right as they are clearly an integral part of the process. 

I don't think I'll be continuing either of these ideas further, but it was good to think through making again as I haven't done that since the start of the year with the puppets.