Sisyphus Boulder
Personal projectAugust 2022
Sculpture, Installation
Acrylic, pencil, mixed media, 50cm^3
This work came from an assignment to create a piece based on Glen Keane’s Dear Basketball, a film charting the career of the basketball player Kobe Bryant. Inspired by Bryant’s perseverance in the face of adversity and his focus on the process rather than final outcomes, I decided to reference what I saw as the similar story of Sisyphus pushing the boulder. The message of this story is not the success of pushing the stone up the mountain or the despair of never being unable to, but rather Sisyphus' repeated triump in wandering between the top and the bottom.
I illustrated images depicting epic landscapes and abstract emotional evocations, prompting the viewer to imagine moments and feelings of overcoming challenges, such as conquering nature. The circular form of the acrylic sculpture and the illustrations suspended at different steps reference the boulder, appearing round on its face but showing irregularity and imperfections at other angles.
The acrylic sculpture references the boulder, with a circular form and illustrations installed at irregular and imperfect positions.Early sketches of illustrations made to be installed within the circular form of the sculpture.A detail of early sketches of scenes meant to evoke different emotional states.
Some of the illustrations incorporated scenes and quotes from Dear Basketball in keeping with the story of Sisyphus.Some illustrations depict epic nature scenes, while others evoke emotions with abstract textures and colors.Details of final illustrations made to be installed in the sculpture.The final sculpture and installation is illuminated and meant to be viewed from different angles.