Reconstruction

Mutant, Chaz Howkins, 2015, reconstructed Barbie dolls

After playing around with deconstructing and reconstructing Barbies using photography, I decided to turn this idea into a 3D sculpture.  I used the limbs of four dolls to create a mutant Barbie creature, which I feel appears quite haunting as its arms are outstretched as if it is trying to beckon the viewer towards it, making the viewer feel somewhat uncomfortable.  The creature reminds me of something a demented child might make out of its toys by ripping their limbs off and melting them back together.  The limbs were joined together using a hot glue gun, but unfortunately the glue was not strong enough so the piece fell apart before I could photograph it properly.

Deconstruction

Reconstruction 1, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Reconstruction 2, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Bet Barbie Did Nazi That Coming, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Dickheads, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

After deconstructing a Barbie for my metal sculpture, I decided to explore the possibilities of deconstructed dolls.  I took the limbs of several dolls and reconstructed them into different shapes; firstly as mutant creatures, which I feel have quite a sinister look to them.  I then went on to corrupt the innocence of the dolls by turning them into images that a child may not or should not understand, such as swastikas and phallic imagery.

Metal Workshop

Impaled, Chaz Howkins, 2015, metal and Barbie parts

After learning how to weld, I decided to create a sculpture using Barbie parts and metal rods.  As I rarely work in 3D, I encountered a few problems whilst putting the piece together.  I didn't plan out its structure as throughly as I should have, meaning it didn't stand up how I imagined and I had to attach an extra rod between the base and the body of the doll.  Also the piece is quite back-heavy so appears to be close to falling over.  However, I feel I learned from these issues that I sometimes work needs to be planned out in more detail rather than being created spontaneously.  I think the resulting outcome is quite successful as the innocence of the doll is destroyed by its disassembly and the juxtaposition of the harsh metal.

Metal Workshop

Welding Experiment, Chaz Howkins, 2015, metal

After not being able to attend a metal workshop in semester 1 due to the tutor being ill, I caught up on the workshop at the start of semester 2.  The first task we were given was to weld two pieces of metal together.  I feel that welding is a useful skill and the colours produced on the metal made the outcome more visually interesting than expected.