Concept Statement

It's taken a while for me to figure out how I'm going to tie two completely different sections of my senior thesis together. When I first proposed the ideas of the immersive river scene and the WireWear the only two similarities were that they were made out of wire. Now I have a more solidified idea.

I have been making these fish and oddball animal sculptures for around 3 years now, so it would only make sense to include them in my senior thesis show. In fact, a large global circle of aquaria hobbyists admire my work and often buy them off of me. These sculptures have a natural, organic feel to them, despite being made out of metal.
The WireWear has a more mechanical and unnatural feel to it, but still retains some organic shapes and themes. Inspiration for the large scale pieces is often drawn from my synesthetic experiences with music and sound.

After some contemplation, I've finally tied the two together.
My entire body of work will be based off of dualities and clashing forces. For example, the river creatures will be a mixture of freshwater inhabitants from all over the world and thriving in different habitats (coldwater vs. tropical, hard water vs. soft water, acidic pH vs. basic pH, predatory vs. herbavorous). Along with the mixture of fish, reptiles, and invertebrates that would never be able to survive in the same body of water together, they are also made out of mostly inorganic materials, yet have an organic feel.
The WireWear will have a different set of dualities all together. These include the living vs. the dead, human vs. inhuman, civilized vs. wild, serene and beautiful vs. threatening and grotesque, etc. Most of the pieces will be based off of synesthetic experiences, infused with animals and plant parts that will tie into the river scene. One that I am looking forward to building is a suit of samurai armor mixed with a lionfish, based off of what I see to "Shogun" by Trivium. To make it even better, one of my friends who is half Japanese will be modeling it. Here are some other ones I am working on;

-Minimalistic wire suit that infuses the human figure with an orchid, based off "Last of the Wilds" by Nightwish and "In The Wilderness" by Gojira

-Deep sea fish mixed with the human figure using EL wire (illuminated), based off "Ocean Grave" by Disarmonia Mundi, "Embrace of the Endless Ocean" by Amon Amarth, and "The Heaviest Matter in the Universe" by Gojira

-Human form mixed with praying mantis, no musical influence yet.

-Abstract illuminated wire armor, based off "Dialogue With the Stars" by In Flames and "Celestial Furnace" by DIsarmonia Mundi

-something inspired by ancient Greek armor (more details once I get back from Greece)

and finally,
-Center piece armor. Nearly a full suit which integrates the human body with the Goliath Tigerfish, based off "A Sight to Behold" by Gojira