Copper and Brass 5" x 3" x 3"(top) 3" x 2" x 2"(bottom)
This was an interdisciplinary project combing both biology and sculpture. While I was learning about artificially changing genes in the Biology class, my interest in GMO(Genetically Modified Organism) system is increased. In ordinary life, people can see many GMO foods such in grocery markets. And this leads me a question; Are GMO foods safe to eat? And still, there are many arguments concerning about its safety.
By taking the idea, I decided to do a sculpture of GMO fruit to show the three-dimensional visuality of it. As technology further develops, there also be fruits that combine two kinds of fruit: such as a fruit with apples on the outside and oranges on the inside. This was an ambitious project by using metal casting, which was one of my learning goal in sculpture class.
Firstly, I got a real apple and an orange to make a mold of each of them with plaster powder, and later poured melted wax into the molds. After getting a figure of apple and orange, I worked on wax to make the exact appearance of “apple orange”. I made another mold for the final metal casting process with investment. After melting all the metals(I used a mix of copper and brass), I pour them into the final mold and cooled them. The final process was cleaning all the support parts and polishing them. The slice section of fruit turned out as planned. But the larger work of an entire fruit ruptured the mold, resulting in a very interesting piece that is hollow on the inside, pitted on the outside, and has a curious explosion of metal on one side. While visually interesting in and of itself, this reflects on both the nature of science as an experimental art, where things are done and processes tried precisely because one does not know what the outcome will be. This also further taught me the natural experiment of GMO food itself, where danger is inherent in each organism precisely because we do not have experience with them and do not know what will happen. It was not happy at first when I looked at the piece right after cooled. But I could learn much more from the experimental sculpture. As an artist, I could also learn to deal with success and failure as well.
