Excellence in Visual Art
Congratulations to Year 11 Visual Art student Emmanuel Skoufris who exhibited artwork at The Brisbane Institute of Art (BIA) Windsor, September 20-27th, as part of the Creative Generation Metropolitan Region Awards for Visual Arts. The Awards recognise excellence in Senior Visual Art education and student achievement throughout Queensland's state and non-state schools. Emmanuel's work Font was selected by a panel of judges for a Minister's Excellence Award, and will be on display at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in 2020 in an exhibition of outstanding student work.
Artwork Details
Font
Emmanuel Skoufris
Artwork Process
Two clay moulds were made out of a small Buddha statue and my nose. Liquid beeswax was then poured into both moulds. Once solid, the wax sculptures were heated and the casts of both combined. The result was then photographed, and subsequently edited using Photoshop.
Artist Statement
Wax is malleable; similarly, the consumerised and pervasive Buddha statues are flimsy reformulations of a sacred, religious icon. In fact, almost all religious symbols are archetypal appropriations of previous ones. Religious figures typically represent a fundamental desire for the immortal, and a response to human needs. Font takes inspiration from Duchamp's Fountain, which has been noted for its resemblance to the Buddha, a treasured font of wisdom and life. I was interested in playfully aligning the nose with wisdom, as this alignment manifests linguistically in odd ways (sniff it out, smells funny, homophonic "knows," etc).
