final work

Name: Adam Hong

Title: Byeonhwan (transformation)

Dimensions: 2 x 60x45

Expressive Form: Collection of Works

Blurb: Byeonhwan physically dramatises the Asian folktale of the Koi fish swimming up the waterfall thus transforming into a dragon. This story represents certain themes of strength, courage and overcoming adversity. The candle wax was used not only to represent the narrative of the transformation but it appeals to both the aesthetic beauty and smell linking it with the Korean culture. The intricate designs paired with the strong floral smell of the candle wax demonstrate traditional Korean customs of paying great attention to detail and layout while also preserving the natural elements of life avoiding artificials within iconic Korean scenes which is clearly shown throughout my artwork. The natural, simple and unforced nature of the work is clearly depicted through the candle wax combined with the watercolour drawings within the background. This highlights the strong Korean influence while also symbolising my ‘transformation’ through life.

Influencing artists: J-Cent Mu

My artwork is finally complete. Many setbacks throughout this time have delayed the completion of my artwork such as the dragon braking and finding a solution on framing and transportation for my work in order for it to be maintained since it does have a fragile characteristic.
The solution is quite simple, by creating a box like shape for each part (the koi and the dragon) it is quite easy to place the watercolour background and the perspex in place in order to protect my work. But due to issues such as the perspex bending due to overheating while working on it, it has forced my artwork to be displayed horizontally and not being hung up. The black box used to frame my artwork exploits the colours of the wax further impacting the audience on the aesthetic beauty while also still allowing the audience to get the scent from the candles as it is being presented.
Overall i am very pleased with my work since it is finally done.

overall the process for my body of work hasn’t been so well. Running into many different problems while working on my work such as figuring out an idea on packing and framing it without the wax damaging, by burning the candle wax and dripping it onto the perspex half way through the process i noticed multiple cracks started appearing. With the koi fish practically done so far and my dragon half finished i still have the gate to do which would only take a couple of days max. After all that is done different things like the background with watercolours need to be done which won’t take too long. Overall it would only take about a week max if all things go well and the problems have been fixed but being in trial period at the moment i’m struggling in order to balance out studies between all my subjects which means it may take a little longer.

documentation of body of work

I came upon this video during my research and experimentation with the candle wax. The colour blending he has on his koi fish within his work is what i am trying to achieve with my own work now. But with him using fiberglass instead of candle wax i believe i can still achieve something similar.

the artist
as someone of asian heritage many stories were told to me whilst growing up about certain life lessons about persistence, luck, strength and courage. With this in mind i thought about the story of the koi fish swimming upstream and transforming into a dragon which displays the message of strength, perseverance and courage. I thought this story would relate to me very well not only because of my asian heritage but because these certain themes are heavily enforced in my life whilst i was growing up. This story also has many different variations whether it be japanese culture, chinese or korean the story still sends out of the message of resisting hurtles and achieving success in life which many people will be able to relate to.

the artworld
art in todays society is very different. Everything in art has been practically done before therefore forcing artists to think of new ways to display and show certain ideas and concepts to the public. With my work the use of something modern like tattoo designs which in todays society is accepted among many and can mean many different things to many different people. I am attempting to blend the tattoo design into something that will be seen as ‘real’ art that could be placed within a museum, i am trying to attempt this by using the candle wax to create real texture for the koi fish scales etc.

the audience
audience in todays society is very abstract and contemporary. With todays society something must be very different and attracting to allude the audience towards something. This is what my artwork is aiming for. I wish to have my artwork draw attention to the audience by having something completely different from others with the use of the candle wax. 

At first the experimentation with the candle wax was quite tedious and i wasn’t really enjoying what i was doing but now that i have something to work with i am now pleased with the results i am getting with the candle wax. Although the candle wax at the moment seems to be working well i am now working on my water colours in case the candle wax fails in the end.
Another thing is my BOW lack conceptual strength. This means i will need to research more and find some new things to enable a very obvious and significant connection between me and the artwork. eg more signs and symbols, something more personal to me the subjective frame etc.
I haven’t made much progress so far in my works but with extra time and effort by staying back after school and working on it at home i believe my whole BOW can be finished within the next two months. Although this is possible it will be quite difficult for me to transport my artwork since the wax is very delicate and even slight scratches could ruin the finished product.
I believe if i manage to pull off my artwork using the candle wax that it will separate my artwork from other students in visual arts due to its unique medium which i haven’t seen anyone else use for their own HSC BOW. Even with this a lot of time and effort must be put in to create an artwork which is both delicate and aesthetic. My technical resolution so far using the candle wax is improving greatly from my first media experiments to what i have now. I have explored through many different techniques using the wax on how to burn it, shape it and what the final design i wished to have. 

prototype design of my dragon

Strengths identified and discussed
The strength within my artwork is that using wax as a medium i am making my artwork unique and different from others. If i am able to create an aesthetic work using the candle wax my BOW will have something different and will show my technical resolution to the markers on how i have shown practice in using a medium which is abstract.

Weaknesses identified and discussed
Lots of time is needed which i don’t have. I need to now spend much more time on working on my BOW. This means working on it at home or after school to enable completion of my BOW.
Another weakness is the development of my technical resolution. Experimentation with the candle wax is quite tedious and hard, but after a week or so of experimentation and discussion with my art teacher i believe i am now heading in a good direction with my artwork meaning i may now be able to officially start working on my BOW.
Price is another factor. Materials needed will be a number of different coloured wax such as red, white, green, purple, black and so on. The candle wax is needed plus perspex is needed. The candle wax is not a major issue but i am worried about the perspex not knowing where i am going to buy it.