martedì 12 marzo 2013

Choosing the subject

Which window should I recreate? 

The first idea would be to reproduce an existing stained window. Of course, for the purpose of this internship, such window should show some important characteristics: 
a simple drawing (for time problems), 
- a huge documentation (to distinguish original parts from restoration ones), 
- the window should be easy to rich in situ for a proper observation (since glass is transparent, and it obliges to be seen against the light, only a proper observation from very close could help to understand its typical features. Moreover, the fact that the leads are black, doesn’t help to visualize them unless from very close), 
- the support of experts (of primary importance in case the previous data were insufficient). 
Unless all such things are present, reproducing an existing stained window could led to a fake model.

The best idea would be to create a model with more levels, in which both the original supposed shape and the nowadays visible object could be shown. Unfortunately there is no time to perform such a big project in few months, especially if the drawing of the window is not simple.

Therefore the most sensed idea is to start from an arbitrary window (in order to not be confused with an existing one), but to build it with materials and methods known to be present in a specific historical period, in particular in the Middle Ages. In this way, no problem of faking objects would arise and the methodology would not suffer. The model so created would be complicated enough to show the biggest variety of features that a real Middle Age window could show, so that its features would be useful for future re-use. On the opposite, if the drawing was too complicated, simplifications would be allowed without leading to a fake object. 

So, since it is arbitrary, why not to start from my own drawing? The poetic licence would be that the the subject and the lead paths would not be typical of the Middle Ages, and that statical problems would not be taken in account. However, the work intends to be a starting point for the modelling of the details of a stained window and, when developing the project and applying such experience for the study of an existing window, such problems would not arise anymore. 

About the artwork used as a guideline for the 3d model of the stained window 

In order to have a reference drawing for the model, I choose the following artwork (fig.2). The artwork shows the working principle of a Scanning Electron Microscope. In this instrument, an electron beam interacts with the surface of the object under test generating secondary electrons (at the surface). Since secondary electrons arise only from the very surface of the object, their map is exactly the picture of the object under test.

In my drawing, the primary beam of the electron microscope is represented by the vertical lines in the background. The woman is the object to be studied. The secondary electrons are represented by the veil. The microscope image is therefore the map of the veil. Hollow objects, and in general everything under the veil, are invisible because secondary electrons come only from the surface of objects. 

The costume is inspired by the “Lucia di Lammermoor” opera.  

Fig. 2
Title: 30.03.2012_SecondaryElectrons
Size: 100 cm x 35 cm.
Media: acrylic / china ink / coloured pencils on paper.
Year: 2012

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