I’m Jiaxin Yuan, a third year BA Drawing student at Camberwell. I am from the South of China and I decided to join BA Drawing at Camberwell because the course doesn’t limit you to Drawing but to develop your practice into any kind of art work. I’ve just finished setting up my final piece for our graduation show 2016 and this is how I just made it!
Some of my dreams are with me all the time, I still remember some dreams I had when I was little. Dreams really affect my way of seeing and thinking; what if things turn out to be as they were in my dream after I woke up? Will I still make the same decisions after I am awake and aware that a certain reality is not possible in waking life? So, wanting to find out what is really hidden in my unconscious inspired my final piece.
My desires are put on hold in waking life as my logic takes control when I am awake, it makes me unable to see other possibilities of reality or to think in a different way. However, my true feelings can be released when I am asleep; to dream is the only way to truly enter the unconscious, it’s another side of me that gives explanations to help me to face my fears and to listen to myself more carefully.
I started my project outlining a drawing of my dream recollection, refreshing my memory, trying to get as close as I could to bring out the visual images in my head. I put this into paper first, then I used plastic clay to build a small 3D model of the drawing. When I hit a blank gap in my memory, I left a blank space. In another situation, I only remembered a blurry shadow so I looked for the closest object to me and replaced the shadow by drawing the object instead. In this case I merged the blur memory and the real object to draw a new shape.
Work in progress by Jiaxin Yuan
Work in progress by Jiaxin Yuan
After the outline drawing and the 3D modelling was finished I realised that the best way of representing what happened inside my dream was by using moving image; using these models means the story from my dream can happen in walking life. I filmed or photographed the models step by step then gave them some order, later on I hand drew the Chinese characters of what I remembered, looking into the representation of my dream as an outsider.
Work in progress by Jiaxin Yuan
Work in progress by Jiaxin Yuan
Work in progress by Jiaxin Yuan
The decision about what materials I would use changed completely from the start point. At first I wanted to use clay for most of the models, because I wanted everything to look white and smooth. However, during the first experiments results were not what I expected. Then, in one of our tutorials with artist Rana Begum, I showed her my building and swimming pool drawing, which are the two main start points for my final work, and she recommended I visit the 4D model shop and look for other materials to experiment with. That led me to use PVC as the main material for the 3D models. Finally, I used Adobe Photoshop and a little bit of After Effects for editing a little movement to the short animation.
Work in progress by Jiaxin Yuan
Work in progress by Jiaxin Yuan
If you would like to see my final piece come to the Undergraduate Summer Show 2016 event at Camberwell College of Arts from 20 -25 June 2016
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