rachel & baby rosie

a number of my recent posts have centred around my major uni project – the brainchild.

im pleased to say that i’ve just finished it – the culmination of about 5 months work!

these are some of the photos of the exhibit, which were taken by my friend, rachel – the same rachel whose face has been cast in the construction of this artefact

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you can read loads more about it on my other blog:
cerebrum filios – children of the brain 

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brainchild poster

this is a carnival themed poster for the brainchild project i’m working on…

the first sketches of this are here

building a brainchild

most of you will be familiar with the brainchild project i am working on..

this is a sketch for a friend who made the request, “draw a bisected head, with a foetus for a brain.”

i was so taken by this idea that i used the theme for my major university project, which has involved me physically constructing a decapitated head with a baby inside of the cranium. i am also creating additional digital and printed media to tell the backstory of this curious artefact, as if it were once part of a carnival sideshow attraction!

the drawing request was made by my friend, rachel, who has a cheery and inspirational wordpress blog. it’s called adventures on the brightside and follows her exploits during the year as dictated by a new diary she has. [actually, that could be the plot for a romcom or a horror novel, depending on the personality of the actual diary!] so please, go check it out… [link]

anyway, because the brainchild was her idea, i felt it only fitting that the head should also be hers! so have a nosey at this progress video showing what my creation currently looks like!

you can read about the construction process and the rest of the project at my other blog:
cerebrum filios: children of the brain

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sleeping like a…

this is a detail shot of the foetus i’ve been building…

ain’t she a cutie!

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the last january ever

i forgot to post last month’s diary painting – so here it is!

[acrylic on A3 canvas. painted 01 – 31 jan 2012]

not much to say about this one…

i didn’t have any nights out, i didn’t read any books, and i barely smiled. it was a very boring bland month, dominated utterly by my brainchild project.

february’s painting is nothing like this!

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babies on the brain

this is more of a progress report from my other blog!

i’ve been drawing up a carnival style poster idea for my brainchild project [link]. and while this is certainly not finished, i do kinda like it..

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desktop

i have mentioned that this blog is so quiet because i have been concentrating on my university work.

i will certainly post about the project here when it is more complete, but this phonepic of my desktop should give you a flavour of some of the stuff i’ve been doing!

for anyone interested in seeing what this is all about, i have another blog where i’m detailing the entire project…

cerebrum filios – the children of the brain

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the children of the brain

a while ago i posted an anatomical drawing of a head that had been bisected open. but curiously, rather than having a brain inside – there was a foetus..

as i enter the final year of my degree, i am using this subject matter as a vehicle to investigate a few ideas.

i suspect theology, medicine, and artistic craftsmanship will all come into focus as i explore it in further depth. no doubt the roles of identity, personality, and user profiles will make appearances too as technology continues to overwhelm our physical place in this digital world.

i will record my journey of research and creation on another blog:

cerebrum filios: the children of the brain

 

please have a look from time-to-time. if any of my posts strike a chord, or relate to your own thoughts or ideas, then i would love to hear what you have to say.

thanks,
chris

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brainchild

when i travel to see my family i usually end up stuck on a coach for a good 6 or 7 hours with nothing to do but read or sleep. however when I travelled at christmas i forgot my book. thankfully i did have my sketchbook, but nothing that could be described as inspiration. so i hit up facebook and asked “who wants a drawing??“

quite a trial by fire that was – trying to incorporate some of the most random suggestions and ideas into a decent sketch whilst hurtling up the motorway on a very bumpy coach. there was something incredibly fun about the interaction with my friends and the personal artistic challenge in that odd situation/environment. in the nicest sense, i couldn’t wait to go home so i could do it again on the return journey! my favourite sketch from those 2 sessions was: ‘an inside-out cow giving birth’

 

at the tail end of april i was to be travelling again, so i made sure i had my sketchbook handy for round 2. i drew zombie cupcakes, frogs on a burning tree-heart, even the cast of nightbreed. but the absolute best suggestion and resulting drawing came from a new friend, rach. She told me that her suggestion was an idea she’d had in her head for some time. i was amazed that i haven’t seen it used in artworks before, cos its such beautiful concept…

“draw me a bisected head with a foetus for a brain…” rachel brockley

[pencil, black ink on paper.29 april 2011]

just think about this idea for a while: a foetus for a brain. there are so many directions my mind spins off at this point… true birth lineage / parasites / the unconscious mind / evolution / twins!! …and what of zombies? i bet that brainbaby is really crunchy 😀 om nom nom!

there was one detail that rach had always imagined, but never mentioned to me. curiously though, i ended up adding it whilst i was drawing, as it seemed like such a natural biological feature – the umbilical cord attaches to the brain stem.

that moment of shared creativity when you have the exact same idea as somebody else is just priceless.  although, i suspect copyright lawyers may not share my perspective…

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ADDENDUM [added 26 may 2011]

as i said, i was surprised not to have seen this idea used in artworks before so ive been looking around since. the closest thing i can find is an image used by the band tool:

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