Perplexed Duck
Another one for the void because I’m convinced that nobody really reads these.
Ever switch lenses and look at creation as what it is? Stripped away from its soul and purpose, everything feels like a compilation of atoms (for the record, my best friend disapproves of using ‘compilation’ in this context, but in my head it works). Sometimes I look at people or animals and just see limbs in cohesion. Most of the time it feels disorienting, and at other times, it feels oddly empowering to remember how insignificant and boring we are without it.
Mix Media Sculpture
≈ 25cm Diameter
April, 2026
My camera broke, I'll upload the photos when I can.
I find artists’ self portraits interesting. The way any artist captures their own essence in a way that’s most authentic to them. How they view themselves. To me, it’s beyond the skillset of portraiture, it’s a window into their introspection. For better or worse, my introspection yielded this: The physical manifestation of my inner thoughts, conflicts, feelings, layers of self, ego, spirit, depth, values, soul and a bundle of energies translated into what closely resembles a peeling sphere being navigated by a blind and perplexed duck.
Each layer became intentional during its creation. After carving the sphere and setting the elevation, I wanted to portray a mix of elements. I moulded the flow to depict liquid in motion, whilst keeping the texture rough and messy to elicit grounding. Prior to covering the piece in black, I sectioned different areas and coated them in neon UV reactive paint which subtly peak through. The idea behind concealing the vibrance was to depict fire forging permanence. Lastly, I used pearlescent hues of blue and purple to create contrast with lighting and a slight nod towards the universe’s appearance (to convey an 'inner world').
Collectively, the piece represents oneness. Whilst the flow of the piece feels almost like a separate attachment, some areas appear to be extending directly from the centre itself. The little wrap is intended to present itself as a form of protection, comfort, understanding, evasion, shield and obstruction, all at once.
Despite our inner cores, sometimes life feels like we’re mere vessels with antennas, existing to experience this world, picking up on thoughts, receiving ideas and variations of lessons, navigating our lives however we can with whatever we’re equipped with. That’s what the duck represents. In wanting to depict my inner world, I wanted to encapsulate the intangibles through the elements by capturing the oneness in everything.
We come from the same thing, we exist in our own right and eventually return to our source code, and in doing so, we’re innocently perplexed and blindly navigating the shi*show.