Final piece - Duat

At last the Duat piece is done. I made some changes to my original plan, but I'll discuss those in a bit.

I started off by drawing the images I wanted to include in the design. The most challenging was the skeletal version of Ammut, the composite daemon who eats the heats of the unworthy. To create her I broke her down into the three animals she is made up of: a crocodile's head, a lion's shoulders and a hippopotamus' hindquarters. I then found images of the skeletons of each of these animals and created Ammut's skeleton by putting these together.

I wanted her to look threatening and disturbing, so I chose an open-mouthed crocodile skull and a twisted pose.

Once I had the images I wanted to use, I made brushes out of them in photoshop and started to work on the image. As I liked the effect of the bleach drawings and the X-ray like quality of the white on black images I had done before, I decided to apply white brushes onto a black background. I started with my central motif: Ammut standing above a heart framed by a structure comprised of snakes and papyrus fronds. I wanted to give the frame an architectural feel similar to the depictions of temples and shrines in the Book of the Dead but to have it made of organic forms.

I considered adding a reference to the Weighing of the Heart, with perhaps scales, but I decided that it would be more effective to focus on organic forms and to leave out any imagery associated with order, virtue or the divine. As such I decided against including imagery associated with any of the gods, such as jackals, baboons, the Seth animal or birds.

Once I had the central image sorted, I ensured the design was properly centred, added white guidelines and then a series of snakes at diagonals to add a diamond pattern

To test that the snake diagonals lined up, I tested the image as a pattern

The result had a nicely archaic feel. It reminds me of 18th century wallpaper designs. However it didn't quite capture the sense of threat and fear that I wanted so I added brushes based on dangerous animals common in Egyptian art, especially in images of Duat: scorpions and hippotomi. I considered adding a crocodile, as crocodile daemons are very common but decided that that might detract from the crocodile that made up Ammut's skull.

Originally I tried adding a smaller scorpion but I felt that it didn't make use of the space very well. Once the design was finished, I tested it on a large area once again.

Although the repeat itself is fairly simple, being nothing more than a block repeat, I like the geometric feel that the blocks and diamonds create. Like the first test image, the piece has an old-fashioned feel which suggests the influence that Egyptian art has had on the development on art in the Western world, being the original inspiration for ancient Greek sculpture, relief and painting which is the backbone of Western representational art. Like the original vignettes from the Book of the Dead, it is both elegant and ordered and disturbing.

In my last blog post I wrote that I planned to make a very disordered repeat to hint at the Egyptian fear of chaos, but after looking at the art and literature of the Book of the Dead once more I remembered that Duat is a fairly ordered and linear place, however disturbing. The Book of the Dead acts as a map, showing the deceased the path through Duat to the houses of the Underworld gods, and as such it shows the order there as a person can only reach their goal by following it. Duat is ruled by deities who represent order. Osiris, Anubis, Isis, and Ra all have duties there, but certain daemons are hinted to be sent to attack the deceased by Seth, god of chaos: order rules but chaos has influence. However, to hint at the fear of chaos, I ensured that there was an element of instability in my piece by making diamond shapes different sizes, which tricks the eye and adds a sense of nervousness. I made sure the diagonals continue fluidly through the piece, though, to suggest the path through Duat, with the winding spines of the snakes suggesting the complex journey past the many dangers towards the "climax": the Weighing of the Heart.

I think the white-on-black Duat design would make a good pattern for a statement wallpaper. If reduced in size and printed onto a heavy fabric it would make an interesting, subtle pattern for a skirt. It would be interesting to try printing it black-on-black onto velvet to create a subtle relief pattern, and I think the dark but glossy qualities of black velvet would suit the subject matter and heighten the unsettling feel of the subject matter.

I experimented with changing the colours but I think the white on black scheme is the strongest, adding a modern twist to a design that draws so heavily from the past.

I do quite like the effect on this last one, however,. The blue-tones against the white are suggestive of 18th century porcelain.

Repeat Pattern Concept and some photoshop doodling

Following on from the themes I've been researching and working with so far, I've settled on a concept for my final repeat which is based on the Egyptian concept of Duat, the Underworld. When a person died, they beleived that they would travel through Duat, coming up against various tests and dangers, which could be defeated with use of the spells catalogued in the "Book of Coming Forth By Day", or as we call it, "The Book of the Dead". At the climax of the journey, the dead person's heart would be weighed against the feather of Maat, which represented truth and justice. If they were judged just, they would be allowed to enter the realm of Osiris where they would live for eternity in comfort, but if the heart was rejected it would be eaten by the monster Ammut, "The Devourer" amd the dead person would be doomed.

The journey through Duat, with the Weighing of the Heart, in particular is fairly familiar thanks to the restoration of some very beautiful Book of the Dead papyri. I was lucky enough to get to see some of them in person at the British Museum's Book of the Dead exhibition this winter, and it's clear from some of the more bizarre vignettes and the gruesome annotations that Duat was a very frightening place. We tend to think of the Egyptian views on the afterlife as strange but beautiful because of the very ordered vignettes from the Book of the Dead papyri; the faces of the human figures are expressionless, almost mask-like, and the daemons tend to be shown in rest, waiting for the deceased person to come to them, so that the more distressing elements are left unseen.

I want to create a repeat pattern that highlights the frightening, disordered and gruesome elements of Egyptian afterlife beliefs, combining Egyptianising motifs with images we associate with death today, such as bones and skeletons. I plan to create a design that appears random as to Egyptians chaos was synonymous with evil and was a terrifying idea that threatened their way of existence (the villianous deity Seth was god of chaos, linked with the serpent of darkness Apep, while Maat was the goddess of justice, order and truth).

Today, I started drawing some of the images I will use for this piece, and had a quick experiment with brushes I created from them. Here's the result.

Drawings and sketches

I've been sketching a lot for this project, here are some of the more successful ones.

These last two were drawn from the top of Portsdown hill, the original views looked something like this:

Animals in Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs include a vast number of ideograms depicting animals, both real and mythical, and parts of animals. Plants are depicted too, but they are often so stylised it is difficult to see what they were intended to represent.

Hierolgyphic script was only used for special occasions and expensive items, such as high quality funerary goods and manuscripts, because it was so difficult to write. Grammar was very complicated and there were hundreds of separate ideograms which could stand for one word or one syllable depending on context. Scribes had to train for years just to be able to accurately copy manuscripts. Artists also seem to have had a basic knowledge of the ideograms, as the stylised signs themselves appear frequently within vignettes depicted in tomb paintings and temples, even in jewellery (see Wilkinson: Reading Egyptian Art)

The English Egyptologist Sir Alan Gardiner created a table of signs which he divided up thematically in terms of what the ideograms depicted, which includes a number of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and plants. This is useful for a number of reasons; it provides a comprehensive list of creatures that were recognisable to ancient Egyptians, but it also it provides a quick glossary to the stylised forms.

It's interesting to note that the vast majority of the creatures depicted are real animals rather than mythical beasts, with the benu bird and the Seth animal being notable exceptions (although even the benu bird is based largely on a heron).

More images of the Fauna of Egypt

All images are from Wikipedia unless otherwise stated. I know it's not the most reputable of sources but it's always a good starting point and you can't go wrong with a good picture. This time I want to look specifically at skeletons and skulls.

Hippotomus

 Lion

 Crocodile

 Egyptian Wolf/Jackal

 Horned Viper

(Image via)
Hyena

Hellenistic mosaic depicting a striped hyena.


As I mentioned in my last post, I'm thinking of working on a design featuring animals and daemons of ancient Egyptian folklore. I want to use realistic depictions of skeletons, stylised Egyptianising flora and possibly some fairly realistic studies of insects (particularly scarabs) and snakes. It's an idea I'm only just starting to properly shape, but it's developing.

Rogue Taxidermy

Rogue taxidermy is the practice of creating fake "mythical" or hybrid animals by sewing and stuffing together the remains of two separate animals. These were (and still are) often exihibited at freak shows and other sideshows. Historically these were sometimes put together to dupe gullible members of the public, especially in times where education was vague and few people travelled. Today, rogue taxidermy is an art form, a sort of macabre kitsch.

A "stuffed" griffin from the Copenhagen Zoological Museum (via Wikipedia)

Famous examples include the Fiji mermaid, a grotesque combination of a monkey and a fish;
The skavader, a fictional Swedish creature, and the jackalope, a creature from North American folklore. Such hoaxes were very common, especially in the case of medieval monsters and mythical beasts, so much so that when the Australian platypus was first discovered, people assumed it was a stuffed fake.

Image of the Fiji Mermaid from Wikipedia, see link above

The term "rogue taxidermy" was invented by the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, a group who specialise in artificial oddities. When they first exhibited, the New York Times ran a feature on their work, including Sarina Brewer's brilliant roadkill creation, the "Goth Griffin" (below)

Here's a selection from their 2010 exhibition, with more images from the show here.

A similar idea can be seen in the delicate and strangely appealing bone and metal creations of Jessica Joslin

From Joslin's 2010 collection, Brass and Bone

There has been a lot of controversy about these pieces, however. Some taxidermists and audiences accuse the artist of not respecting the animals that are being used to create the pieces. However, since many artists, such as Sarina Brewer and Scott Bibus only use "found" animals (usually roadkill), I personally beleive there is greater respect for the animal than in conventional taxidermy, which often uses hunting trophies. Beyond that, I see a similarity with practices of indigenous peoples in North and South America and in ancient Egypt; using the remains of an animal to create pieces that are both beautiful and have deep spiritual or symbolic meaning. I strongly beleive that using otherwise "leftover" parts of animals shows is a fitting tribute to that creature.

I really enjoy this sort of work. Taxidermy has become a fairly common sight in fine art installations thanks to the work of artists like Damien Hirst and Polly Morgan, but I particularly respect the skill required to create a convincing rogue piece, as well as the dark humour of many such pieces. I'm considering adding an aspect of rogue taxidermy to my Egyptianising theme. Taxidermy and mummification, although practiced for different purposes, are fairly similar. Rogue taxidermy reminds me of the Egyptian mummies of animals such as hawks, rams and cats, which were often arranged to resemble the basic mummiform shape of a mummified person. Both practices are about preserving the dead and giving the corpse the sembulance of life.

I also like the idea of using rogue taxidermy to create mythical creatures, though the beasts typically created have Christian and Graeco-Roman subjects; it would be interesting to create a piece that references Egyptian daemons and deities, such as Ammut, but has the feel of rogue taxidermy.

More rogue taxidermy pieces
A blog featuring rogue taxidermy
An artist who creates terrifying mixed media "mermaids" using parts of fish
Another piece about the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, with videos, slideshows and more
And another

And a video featuring two of New York's leading taxidermists talking

Flora and Fauna of Egypt

In my motif project I drew heavily from ancient Egyptian art and burial practices, so for this project I need to develop those ideas. Here are some links to information and images from both modern and ancient Egyptian creatures.

Animals in Ancient Egyptian art (above images from this page)

The tomb chapel of Nebamun, an 18th dynasty accountant of Amun, was decorated with beautiful, incredibly detailed paintings, including one of the best examples of the typical hunting and fishing scenes. The detail of the birds' wings, the papyrus and lotus fronds and the markings of the cat were heavily influenced by the notorious Amarna period, which is characterised by stylised human forms and naturalistic flora and fauna.

Creatures of Egypt today

Patterns with a morbid background (EDITED)

Remember that link I posted to the Nazi design manual? I decided to try to make some repeat patterns using some of the images from the badges and pins illustrated in the manual. I wanted to go for a fairly conventional repeat to contrast with the dark source. Here are my first attempts.

For this design I wanted to create something that looked fairly traditional, inspired by the very ordered but very busy designs of Victorian wallpapers. I wanted to suggest that images are corruptible when used in a different context. The Nazi party themselves took traditional images and bent them to their purposes: the swastika is a pre-Christian good luck symbol (still used in some Buddhist and Hindu art but now out of use in the West for obvious reasons), the eagle motif was inspired by ancient Roman military symbols and so on. I wanted to take these motifs and turn them into something beautiful to subvert their source and to hint at the persuasiveness of the Nazi propaganda machine.

The leaves are from patches that would have been sewn onto the collar of an officer, the eagle is from a medal. I think the first pattern, with the vertical stripes, is more effective that the second; it was difficult to make the pattern feel balanced and ordered with the more random style. Although this design is slightly more disordered than I would like, the basic concept I was playing with here still shows: turning the very ordered, clean designs of the originals into something more fluid and organic. I wanted to suggest that over time these motifs could outgrow their source material and take on new meanings.

The original images are

This Bug's Repeating

Repeat patterns. With bugs.

From Jezzeprints

From Jezzeprints

By Timorous Beasties via Frizzifrizzi

Interesting (if irrelevant) link

You may have gathered from some of my earlier posts on this blog that I love history. In the context of art, I'm very interested in what art and design meant to different cultures at different times. One period I'm eternally fascinated by is inter-war Germany; the stark contrast between the artistic freedom of the Weimar Republic, with it's subversive caberets and vibrant expressionist, and the very ordered design of the Nazi party, with it's clean lines and exquisite tailoring. I'm always amazed by Nazi art and design; I've always believed that the power of their propaganda, their stirring music and their elegant design was key to their rise to power.

So here's a fascinating link to a rare find: a graphic design "bible" produced by the Nazi party in 1936 (click the link on the page to download and view the full book). Complete with full colour illustrations of uniforms, badges and flags, along with masses of flow diagrams, town plans and all written in a beautiful Blackletter font. Of course it's in German, but even if you don't read German (and I certainly can't) it's very interesting if you're interested in uniforms, military fashion, or symbolism. Yes, it's a bit macabre but it's incredibly interesting.

I know this isn't really related to the flora and fauna brief we're working on at the moment, but it is textiles related and there are some plants and birds in the iconography. I'm very tempted to play around with a morbidly Nazi repeat pattern. We all have those "Springtime for Hitler" moments sometimes!

Just for fun...

Prints about prints...

Or brushes out of perrotines at least!