resolved works, tests & works in progress

exhibited works

© Milena Orlandi

Lipsum iii

towels, polyester stuffing, wood and metal table frames, upholstery foam, cardboard

85 x 55 x 125 cm

Shown at UAL Camberwell MA Summer Show

© Milena Orlandi

© Milena Orlandi

Lipsum iv

towels, linen, polyester stuffing, child’s hula hoop, zips

55 x 55 x 35 cm

Shown at Overlay, a group show exhibiting works by MA Sculpture students at the SU Project Space

lipsum skins

I am considering the ongoing life of the stuffed fabric objects I have been making. In their creation, there is a moment when the ‘skins’ are filled with stuffing and they take on shape and come to life. When I am storing these objects, I remove their stuffing and vacuum-pack it - the empty skins are then folded and boxed. I began to think about these skins as artworks in their own right - not quite discard but strange non-entities that were waiting in the wings. 

I hung and photographed a selection of these skins in an attempt to reframe them as a series of complete works, rather than components. This is a series of images that acts, for the most part, as proof of concept - I will develop these ideas further in the coming weeks.

works in progress

packaging cast in tinted plaster

Inverting forms of containment, looking at transforming mundane objects/discard. I like their inherent sense of modularity paired with the strange archaeological relic feel: the by-product of inexpert casting.

papier-mâché using invoices from a paint factory: shredded paper soaked in water and mixed with PVA and pigment

Formed into panels to be made into basic structure once dry if the pieces hold their shape.

The urge to make these panels into a kind of miniature architectural space links back to a preoccupation I had with mapping spaces as I started the MA. These ideas, although present in the Lipsum series, were maybe explored in more a hybridised sense.

papier-mâché mixed with powder pigment and plaster

12 x 45 cm

I cast this in the bottom of a plastic tub, shaping the mixture with my hands as it began to set.

It’s a departure from the Lipsum series as it takes on a much more organic form - although the unnaturally even imprint of the bottom of the tub confuses this.

I am going to make more iterations of this work using the same tub.