This week, we've handed over the reins to artist Sean Madden for our Monday special feature. Sean, whose artwork you can find at RobotGeisha.com, describes his art process and shows off some of his latest customs and sculptures.
Previously, my work has been centered around the production of small bronze sculptures which you can see at my alternative site: contemporarybronze.com. More recently, my work has veered towards a kind of three dimensional collage. Mainly incorporating plastic toys and PVC figures along with anything I find that can be rethought or recycled into something interesting and new.
There are many influences that inspire. Robots, sex and machinery all seem to feature heavily as do children's nursery rhymes and fairy tales. I'm also a big fan of the animator Ray Harryhausen, Robert Ruaschenburg, Shunya Yamashita, and the music of The Jesus and Mary Chain.
The ‘Robot Geisha’ figures are a kind of Darwinian nightmare from the future and look at mans obsession with beauty and technology. She’s a kind of rebel cyborg that’s rejected her programming...quite defiant yet bewildered by her own existance. Not someone you'd want to mess with, although I think she has a certain grace and finesse about her too.
The sculpt is all me except for the lower arms which were pulled from a Robsapien toy, I really liked their clunkiness. No. 1 is cast in bronze and No.2 is made made from friendly plastic. They both stand around 50cms in height. I got a great little email from the special effects God Ray Harryhausen earlier in the year, he said that he liked this piece and wished me all the best in the future..makes it all worth while.
‘Dear Hart’ is a combination of all things Autumnal and animal. He’s made up of stuff you might see on a walk through your nearest wildlife park, a kind of Wood Sprite if you will. I got the idea quite recently whilst visiting my 2 year old niece, she loves kicking up piles of leaves and jumping in puddles in the back yard. I think the pose makes him look like a bit of a preacher.
The wings on his back are from a taxidermy website and the body I got from a local second hand store. I had to fill the body with resin plaster just to give him some stability. The head, which was pulled from an old barometer, was a little smashed up so I had to repaint and remodel a few things. He stands at about 55cms.
I just sold a couple of pieces called ‘My Little Pony’ to the video games writer Rhianna Pratchett (daughter of Sir Terry) who tells me that they will be gracing her mantelpiece in her London flat. They’re basically a plastic toy adaptation. The basic toy Horse can be found in most second hand stores here in the UK, I think Barbie make the good ones. I’ve resculpted the head with plastic resin and repainted the body with a white base coat then applied various washes of fast drying enamels on top. The head also involved some brush work. Can’t remember the original inspiration, I do know that toy horses generally make me feel melancholy for some reason, especially if they’re not being played with.. Stands at 30cms in height.
