Creating Forms in Sculpture Inspired by Elebo Masks.
ABSTRACT
Sculpture, has evolved over time, and through the period of its development so many ideas from diverse sources have been discovered by sculptors.
African masks have been explored by foreign artists like, Amideo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso in their paintings and sculptures, this direction has influenced to a large extent the trend of contemporary western sculptures.
The problem of this research however, is that the masks culture of Bassa Nge is gradually facing extinction due to the growing influence of western culture.
The aim of this study is to create relief sculptures inspired by Elebo masks forms using mild steel, while the objectives are to; execute representational forms of the Elebo masks in sculpture,
create stylized sculpture compositions as inspired by Elebo mask forms and to explore the Elebo masks in Geometrical forms in sculpture.
The research method used was the exploratory Studio Practice-based research methodology, which involved visualization and practical observation of the Elebo mask forms.
The analysis and conceptualization of perceived forms formed the basis from which the works were executed. Eighteen sculptures were created.
INTRODUCTION
Art is an integral element of human existence. This existing reality cannot be ignored but rather developed as a fundamental standard for the stimulation of a healthy society.
This probably reflects why works of art are relatively used in measuring people‟s level of civilization, development and enlightenment.
Bentor (1995) describes art as a sign that provides insight that aids the evaluation of human consciousness or tracking the given state of progress.
Form in another hand,is a tool that gives an individual the insight of art vocabulary. Bell in Ola-bale (2014) observes that, “form is the essence of art.”
It has been used in various ways to explore ideas, and it appears that it was the earliest element employed to solve basic sculptural problems.
According to Ocvrik, in Uzoji (2015) form is an element of art and the most basic in sculpture which consists of volume and shapes.
Consequently, “art is an expression of culture of the people that produced it. It also embodies the historical and socio-economical development of their lives”.
This explains the homogeneity that is embedded in cultures like Egypt, Greek, Nok, Ife, Igbo-Ukwu and Bassa Nge art among others.
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