For an exhibition I created a 12' sculpture of terminator-like-droids that are assisting each other to reach the top of the gallery light rail. Originally, I wanted to print 15 pre-assembled droids. I modeled the figured to print folded up in each other, similar to a fetus.
Once the print was complete and the support removed, the 17" figure unraveled.
But getting 15 of these to print accurately and within my budget proved to be difficult. I altered my approach and ended up printing over 300 pieces that were assembled afterwards.
The larger body parts were printed in bundles. I used old Bic pens to represent the spine and save on resin. Old wire was used to connect the individual joints. The exciting part for this was that I modeled/printed the elbow, shoulder, and hip joints so that when assembling the droids, each joint could pop in either the hip, knee, elbow or shoulder socket, allowing me to move the arms and legs into different compositions. After assembling, I painted and stacked my pieces with an armature running up the spin for stabilization, resulting in my final 12’ sculpture
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Cool!
Have you noticed much 3d printing in the fine art world @andy_noble?
Personally I haven’t seen much around me (Philadelphia) but I use one daily as a product designer and I know others that use them as personal business owners and hobbyists but I feel like the gallery is a somewhat untapped area for 3d printing so this is cool to see. .
@Anthony_Huczek
Anthony, in Minnesota (where I currently am located) I am aware of a few different 3D print shows that have taken place in the past several months. One being at the Minneapolis school of Art & Design: http://3dprint.com/38400/mcads-beyond-buzz-3d-print/ ( I was not part of this exhibition). A show that took place earlier this fall down in Phoenix was interesting. They made a call to artists for 3D files. All the artists needed to do was send the digital file, then the curators printed and assembled the prints. It was something I have not seen before. Check out more about it here: http://3dprint.com/16408/shemer-art-materialize/
I look at artists like Sophie Kahn, Dan Collins, Nick Ervinck, Mary Hale Visser, Monika Horčicová, to name a few, for inspiration. I think 3D printing is being implemented into the fine art work more and more. Artists are exploring the possibilities of these technological advancements and really pushing the limits of sculpture and interactive art. Some of the work that I am seeing in the art world are truly amazing.
Thats awesome! Thanks for the name shout outs too. I’m going to look up those people today 