An investigation to establish if, and how, moulds can be taken from semi-liquid substances.
Alexandra Searle, I Swear By It (i & ii) (2023), epoxy, resin, Himalayan salt, steel, plaster, 63 x 150 x 2 cm. Exhibited in My Bone Dust Is Faint Coral, Xxijra Hii Gallery, Deptford, Lewisham, 2023.
Image description: A pair of two pink resin wall-based sculptures in the shape of abstract islands are entangled and squeezing through a steel grid. They are the result of a silly putty cast using a plaster mould. The rectangular metal grid looks as if it was crushing the pink and grey shapes, which ooze at the sides of the frame.
In this project, Alexandra Searle developed a new body of sculpture for Xxijra Hii gallery in Deptford, Lewisham. The exhibition was open to visitors and the public from July 26th to August 26th 2023.
Through this new body of work, Searle aimed to investigate how semi-liquid substances can be cast in solid material. Searle used substances of different viscosities that usually spread or deform over time, though do not pour (e.g. silly putty, gels or tar substances). The aim was to establish the change (if any) in the mould-making process for a semi-liquid material, compared with making a mould of a conventional solid object, including whether some substances will not be possible to mould at all due to their liquidity.
Figure 1. Alexandra Searle, It Was The Skin Under The Skin (ii) (2023), plaster, glass, steel, 27 x 17 x 15 cm. Exhibited in My Bone Dust Is Faint Coral, Xxijra Hii Gallery, Deptford, Lewisham, 2023.
Image description: A sculpture originally moulded from plaster-filled balloons, now made of solid yellow-white glass, is draped over two horizontal metal rods that extend outward from the wall. The balloon, which looks a bit like wet dough, sits atop the metal frame precariously, as if it might slide off any moment, and its middle bit bulges through the two rods.
Searle’s art practice explores the perishing of the body, and our inability to hold onto intangible and fleeting concepts such as time and health. Within this context, this research allowed the artist to materially explore ways of physically solidifying a moment in time, before the substance distorts.
By testing the limits and versatility of the mould-making process, Searle hoped to gain fresh awareness of castable materials. Searle wanted to create solid forms that would be physically and gravitationally similar to a semi-liquid substance in a way that is different from sculpting the objects by hand.
This project built on Searle’s previous methods of juxtaposing the known context and behaviour of materials by using flexible moulds to create malleable-looking forms that are made from hard materials, such as concrete.
Searle writes:
“My method of research was through physically experimenting with materials, with the method of mould-making depended on the material in question. I experimented with making moulds of several semi-liquid substances, including toothpaste, gel wax and silly putty. I tried various mould-making methods including a fast-setting silicone, a water-based alginate, and a plaster mould. Because of the nature of semi-liquid substances deforming and slumping over short time spans, and also being soft enough that the weight of the mould on top of them would cause them to deform, I was aiming to find a mould-making method and material that dried quickly, captured detail and wasn’t too heavy. Each mould I tried had benefits and drawbacks – for example, the silicone mould bonded to the silicone in the silly putty, causing it to stick, and it also took too long to set, so it captured a slightly deformed version of the putty. The water-based alginate mould set fast and didn’t stick to the oil-based putty, but only water-based materials can be cast into this type of mould, so I was unable to use the resin I wanted the artwork to be made from. Eventually, the plaster mould worked best – it set fast, wasn’t too heavy and I was able to cast the resin into it, resulting in a successful set of final artworks. I also experimented with pouring plaster into balloons and hanging them precariously from metal structures in order to capture the physical forces acting upon the object while it is liquid. This was successful and I went on to produce moulds to create these objects in glass. I chose glass because it is a brittle, non-malleable and fragile material, in juxtaposition to the precarious and seemingly fluid nature of its form. I found this method to be a success, capturing the gravity and sag of the plaster in its fluid state.”
The artworks that resulted from this research were displayed at Xxijra Hii gallery in Deptford, Lewisham from July 26th to August 26th 2023 in a solo exhibition of sculpture entitled My Bone Dust Is Faint Coral.
Following from this research, which explored a lack of control within materials, Searle hopes to investigate ways in which unpredictable material transformations might be achieved using high temperatures, through the materials of slip-cast clay and glaze. This will lead to a new body of ceramic sculpture, exploring the unpredictable and enigmatic nature of the body, and material portrayals of a lack of control and autonomy. Slip casting from a plaster mould creates fragile hollow vessels and is thus a particularly suitable way of achieving a uniform object with every cast. By experimenting with variations in the material, this new body of work of anthropomorphic forms will lean into the material’s unpredictable and changing outcomes and its proximity to bodily themes.
Image description: A scrollable page preview for Alexandra Searle’s entry on the Xxijra Hii Gallery website, showing a selection of Searle’s works, information about her education, and a link to her CV.
Alexandra Searle
Alexandra Searle is an Artist and Sculpture Tutor in Goldsmith’s casting art practice area. Searle’s recent aim is to make objects that are familiar to her, viscerally or emotionally, attempting to imagine the inner workings of the body from her position trapped outside of it. Playing with outsides and insides, hollows and solids, materials flimsy and unyielding, Searle recreates the strange systems, reactions and inaccessible masses that silently function or deteriorate within.
