Yesterday at the galleries, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the artists of the Labyrinth, Isaiah Ulloa. The Labyrinth exhibit had a total of three artists and Isaiah worked on three of the sculptures that were in the first room. They all seemed to have a theme of snow or ice. The artists put together a statement that said these pieces were not just individual ideas, but come together and work as a narrative or story.
This first piece was the most interesting I would say because at first I did not know that it was a person laying the snow. Once I got closer I could tell it was a man, but then I looked towards the groin and there was two lumps. I interviewed Isaiah and I had to ask about the two lumps if they meant something deeper or if it was the key to the secret of the universe, but he proceeded in telling me that the man laying in the snow was a 3D model of him and that he has no idea what those two lumps were from, but ultimately had no specific meaning.
The different materials they used were very technologically advanced. To actually have Isaiah lying in the snow, they had this handheld device that allowed them to scan his body and put it onto the computer. The second piece was a face, and it turns out it was also Isaiah’s face too! Instead of using the same handheld device scanner, he took pictures of his face and then uploaded them onto this website program that puts together a 3D model of the face.
For the man in the snow and the face, they used a type of foam, he recalls it’s “open cell foam”. He couldn’t remember the full name, but something along those lines.
Recently we had another spike in weather and I had to ask if this weather inspired this piece at all. He said they worked on it when it was really hot and explained how the temperature of the room and the piece sort of tricks the mind into entering a really cold environment and the person could actually feel the chill, rather than the heat.
I love how it sparkles, just like actual snow
The inspiration for the snow face art comes from his interest in prosthetics and special effects in movies, so it was supposed to be a mask, but he wanted to distort it and see what he could do with it, rather than making it into a mask. As for the body in the snow, all the artists were really interested in how they could make the figure and they liked the idea of how technology is evolving in the art world. The face came from a 3D printer, which is a new technological rave. He believes you could do so much with it, rather than what he can fabricate with his own hands. They were really excited to try it out with this piece. Isaiah said that with the foam, they were surprised at how snow-like it looked and wanted to experiment with it. Another thing he thought that was cool was how people would link in their senses and create an actual environment with snow. They asked if the temperature in the room was keeping the art cool, but really it was all fake snow.
It’s crazy to think that we could take all of our senses and put together a real environment with all its factors, but really it’s all fake.
Isaiah Ulloa was the most enthusiastic and friendly artist I have talked to so far. Isaiah’s, Angel’s, and Juan’s work is fantastic and was definitely one of my favorite exhibits!!
Shannon Choi 