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heads exploration: Pablo Picasso vs Franz West vs Greek sculptures.

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Pablo Picasso

Picasso is profoundly known for his us of abstraction in his art pieces as well as his use of vibrant colours. He is known for his paintings but Picasso would also often sculpt also. His work really stood out for his time as he was working away from realism and would love to exaggerate the structures in faces and objects using bold shapes and lines accompanied with striking colours.

His sculpture on the other hand wouldn’t have the same vibrance as he used the natural tones found in the materials found. Picasso would sculpt heads but he would still sculpt them in the non traditional way and stick to his abstract way but still have it so it would clearly resemble a head.

I personally really admire Picasso’s work and find that his different approach really draws me in. I really like his sculptures as they are like his paintings brought to life, also with every angle i feel as thought you get a new piece. Although his sculptures do vary, like his other work they all have a sense if ownership and you can straight away tell thats it is a Picasso in which i love.

Picasso liked to explore with a range of materials and really pushed his limits in what he could use to make his sculptures. He would experiment with materials such as plywood which is a much more unconventional choice of material. Picasso would also often use natural materials like plaster, bronze and wood which he then carve. Many of his work angular shapes but would still come off as being very smooth as he would sand them down to a soft touch.

Franz West

Lemure Heads 

Unlike Picasso West would most commonly focus his sculptures on the nose area of the head . He would most often do a large and vey exaggerated nose with a small mouth underneath.They would be vey plain and minimal with detail. But like Picasso Wes didn’t take the traditional route and his work could be seen as abstract. The sculptures were oddly and disproportionally shaped, this made his work stand out especially for his time. A lot of his work would have very smooth edges and soft curves making it come off very friendly and almost as large toys.

West would make his noses out of paper mache and plaster which would mean his sculptures would be fairly light compared to the greek statues and the works of Picasso. Using this technique can make it easier to play around with different shapes and textures ,it is very quick and easy to achieve. But this does then make your sculpture much more perishable compared to other materials as it is much weaker and has a hollow inside.

Greek sculptures

Sophocles

Unlike the last two examples the greek statues were much more life like and resembled the facial structure to as we know it to be. They would be most commonly carved out of marble stone. Greek statues have been a big of the art world and statues. They are noticed world wide featured in many movies, paintings and photographs. You can also go and visit many statues todays in certain cities such as Greece. The sculptures would be carvings of Greek gods and people who held great stature ini those times. Although they would try and be as realistic as possible they would often enhance certain attributes, kind of like the photoshop of their day.

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