Savages of Zorthia

BFA Student

Major: Sculpture

Graduation Year: 2019

Artist Statement:

Artist Statement

My investigations revolve around designing, fabricating, molding and casting characters sculpted out of clay, into action figures. Ever since I was a small child, I have had a strong interest in collecting and customizing them. Now, as an adult, I have begun to create my own.
My work varies in scale but includes figures that range from 6x4 inches to 10x6.5 inches. Their overall forms between masculinity and femininity are exaggerated like the He-Man action figures, created in the 1980s. Their muscular anatomies are enlarged in their torsos, and their legs are exaggeratedly short. They are displayed in dioramas that also vary in scale from 25 x 14.5 inches to 7.5x4 feet. Their materials consist of styrofoam, Sculpt-a-Mold, varieties of spray paints, and styrofoam primer, as a means to create landscapes and architecture. Their ideal spaces would be in a darker environment, which would allow the projection from artificial lighting to focus on the work; highlighting the colors and details.
My current work emphasizes character development and my investigations include world-building and fabricating environments, such as dioramas and biographies. Building these dioramas allows the action figures to become part of the realm of science fiction, as opposed to just being singular figures. By constructing these dioramas, and biographies, along with the action figures, my work portrays a context. Putting emphasis on the action figures and dioramas themselves will equally allow their context to strengthen and become more believable. In relation to the fabrication of designing these action figures, my work speaks to prostheses, mutation, genetic anomalies, and body augmentations. In this way, my work addresses the questions of ethics in regards to cosmetic alteration and genetic engineering.
My work follows the tradition of creating action figures that are visually translated from a context of science fiction films, such as Star Wars, The Terminator, and Alien, into action figures. This is done for child audiences who can take these action figures and formulate their own narratives and contexts, and recreate their own stories. Action figures exist for the audiences of adults for admiring them as collectors items. Ultimately action figures are meant to inspire people of all ages. My intentions as an artist is to work with a figure making corporation such as, Sideshow, or Hasbro, so I can pursue my inspirations and skillset to these audiences.