What is perfection? More importantly what is imperfection? This project started with a silent debate to answer these questions. As the debate took it's natural turn we came up with some definitions of perfection: complete symmetry; something aesthetically pleasing; a social construct or my favourite; perfection is in the eye of the beholder. I personally resonate with this definition as I do see perfection as a social construct created to sell aesthetically pleasing product. Even the most "perfect" thing will have flaws therefore, perfection is a perception. What is imperfection? Is it flaws? Is it what is wrong with a product? Personally I believe that imperfection is what gives art personality and meaning. The flaws of a medium are what brings it together.
As the silent debate came to an end we were tasked to make two 10x10cm perfect cubes out of paper. After this one had to be personalised. For the rest of the task we had to take perfect-imperfect pictures of our cubes. We had to snap 1 perfect and 1 imperfect picture. For the plain white cube I chose to take my perfect picture on a tile floor. I see this as the perfect spot for my plain cube as it's alongside other squares. To make this shot even more perfect I lined up the cube with the tiling lines, to me this is perfect and it scratches my brain just the right way.
For my personalised cube I decided to take a picture of it in the light, on a bus. To me this was the perfect spot as I travel a lot, especially by bus and train, therefore, I think that a cube that represents me on public transport is rather perfect. I also choose to take this photo in the daylight as I love the sun and enjoy being outside.
Have you ever seen a perfect cube on the shore of a lake? I chose to take this photograph as it is a quite unusual spot for a cube to be found. I took this picture strictly to emphasise the fact that perfection is different for everyone. This photo may be perfect for someone else as it is a well taken picture. The main focus is centred, according to the few rules of photography the sky to ground ratio is perfect and the scenery is beautiful but is this really the best place for a cube?
Now let's get into the personalised cube. I wanted to represent my love for the abstract. I choose for each face of the cube to paint a different picture as I strongly believe there are many sides to one's personality. I decided for the first face of the cube to portray an anarchy sign to represent what I stand for and that I am incredibly politically active in the local scene. The pins represent my fashion sense and how I drift towards punk fashion, such as McQueen and Viv West. For the RedBull side of the cube I reused the can which I was drinking. I did this as it leans into up-cycling and recycling which is something that I strongly believe in. After using acrylic paint for the base I cut up the can and hot glued it to the cube.
For the other three sides I wanted to express my appreciation for fine art and music. To do this I created an abstract painting using blue and red ink. I have decided to use ink as I have never been the biggest fan of paint, especially acrylic I never liked the way it dries or applies on canvas. I feel that it's too harsh of a medium to convey details with. I tend to use a lot of ink in my typography and other paintings therefore, wanted to include it to my personalised cube. To do this I painted the base white, to create the ink strokes I got a straw which I used to pick up the ink with. To create the splatter structure I blew through the straw making the ink splatter on the page.
On this side you can also see my music face of the cube, for this I grabbed a CD version of an album I love and smashed it, which broke my heart but anything for art, right? Which I hot glued on. To me this was a symbol of the fact that sometimes you need to let go of things you love as they might not be healthy or that you may have to break cycles you love for the greater good. After breaking the CD I rearranged it, somewhat sticking to the original structure but enough to notice that is it not the same.
This to me signified how easily things you love can crumble, this CD symbolises the fragility of relationships and the thin line between love and hate, things can break with only one bad move
The last part of this task was to destroy one of the cubes. For this I decided to destroy the personalised cube. I did this as I believe people value their personalities too much and focus too strongly on what others think. The fact that I destroyed this one to me shows how easily and natural it is to change as a person and grow. It symbolises the fact that sometimes you have to crush your old self in order to become the best version of yourself.
