Lia Schlieff

Details from “Portrait”

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:00:08 -0400

Details from “Portrait”

Portrait of the Sculptor’s Undiagnosed Autism Cast Bronze,...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:57:19 -0400

Portrait of the Sculptor’s Undiagnosed Autism

Cast Bronze, Glass

The Officer Undressing for the Machine Digital (Photoshop) . The...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:42:56 -0400

The Officer Undressing for the Machine

Digital (Photoshop)

The character depicted in this work is The Officer from Franz Kafka’s short story In Der Strafkolonie.

Skullvalley Village Concept (Greyscale Value study and Early...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:37:24 -0400

Skullvalley Village Concept

(Greyscale Value study and Early Morning Color Study)

Digital (Photoshop)

Byronic State . Digital (Photoshop)

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:25:53 -0400

Byronic State

Digital (Photoshop)

Gargoyle #1 Cast Glass

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:39:00 -0500

Front View

Pour Side View

Copper "Heart" detail

Copper "Heart detail

Gargoyle #1

Cast Glass

Cast Glass Test #2 Glass and Bronze . . This piece is the second...

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:53:00 -0500

Frontal view.

View from the pour side.

Standing up.

Cast Glass Test #2

Glass and Bronze

This piece is the second test I poured using the sand-mold cast-glass method. Like my previous test, I used the found object of the Black Rock Shooter Nendoroid as a positive form to cast from. However this form is much more abstract, made from pressing the form in bizzare patterns.

The importance of this test is that it was used to see how bronze would react to being fused with the glass. One can embed copper elements into a cast glass piece, and since my bronze was 96% copper, I wanted to see if it would react well with the glass. It was a success! The bronze turned a smoky black color, but a bit of sandblasting or metal-polishing will return it to a golder state. I am going to be staining the bronze with a patina: a chemical reaction that makes the bronze change colors. This will have to be done using the cold patina method, which is more time consuming than applying heat to the chemicals to stain them quicker.

The bronze I used was an experiment from when I was doing texture samples in a foundry, a metal-casting facility. So this piece is the lovechild of two tests from two different processes.

Cryonic Success Charcoal, 18”x24” . . Cryonics is an...

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:41:00 -0500

Cryonic Success

Charcoal, 18”x24”

Cryonics is an emerging branch of science in which a deceased body is preserved in a perfect temperature to prevent it from both the dangers of decay and freezing. This is done in the hopes that one day human science will become advanced enough to reanimate the dead.

Pictured is a bust of Stephen Decatur, American naval hero. Though his body has long since decomposed, I wanted to experiment with the idea of what would happen to him if he had been a participant of successful cryonics. The above is a portrait of his soul, and what would happen to the soul if his body were to be reanimated. Is there an afterlife? Are human “souls” important enough to constitute religion? If cryonics ever proved successful, and if the dead were to be reanimated, how would the ascended soul react?

I chose to illustrate a possible answer to these questions: the soul would exist in pieces, torn between its homes of the body and “the heavens”. Core signifiers of identity, such as eyes and the frontal lobe of the brain, will be lost or transmuted. The soul’s form will exist like hollow cast iron, seemingly strong yet prone to rusting away to nothing.

I plan to meditate on this motif more, and use it in an upcoming narrative to be translated into a book and a stop-motion animated film.

Antlers II (sketch) Graphite

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:56:00 -0500

Antlers II (sketch)

Graphite

Antlers . . The imaginary being who has taken residence the...

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:43:00 -0500

Antlers

The imaginary being who has taken residence the longest is Solf J. Kimblee from Fullmetal Alchemist. Since 2004 I have been aquaintanced with him, all the while examining his antisocial personality disorder as a gift rather than a burden.

The image of the deer has always popped up when he enters my thoughts. The deer, graceful and noble, quick to flee, reckless, with their weapons worn as a crown; these are the aspects of the deer that coincide with Kimblee. Examining the psychopath personality as a deer is an ongoing meditation for me.

I challenged myself in this piece to convey the color “white” using a multitude of colors. I am pleased with how the resulting effect came out.