Vanitas: a portrayal of human degeneration

[reza-lowpoly]

Hello Everyone!
“Vanitas: a portrayal of human degeneration” is my latest piece That I’ve been working on.

Mankind, at the peak of it’s Civilization, luxurious shell and With the knowledge it has acquired, it’s bow has been drawn more than ever, yet Mold, a symbol of corruption, destruction and extinction, took over our minds, our thoughts and our selves.
a declining dignity and chaos swallowed everything that is left for us. The hope summed up in a candle that has no power, and the Apollo, which represents Knowledge, Prophecy and light, buried and lost its beauty along with the molds.

Softwares used:
ZBrush, 3dsmax, Corona renderer, Photoshop

[reza-lowpoly]

the idea came to me about a year ago, to create a moldy sculpture. I decided to create each part from a different stone which I’m actually working on the physical model at the moment, so the physical version is also made out of different marble stones, both as a technical challenge and of course to make it more valuable, then I decided to add molds on the face to destroy the whole value.
the stone shows the shell, our selves, our beings which became too luxurious but our mind are fading into decay, covered in molds.

I’ll soon share the breakdown and early stages.

Closeups & Additional images:

[nrdiec]

I love this!, would love to see a creation process for that mold, looks really good, reminds me of takayuki’s work

[reza-lowpoly]

Thanks a lot @nrdiec , Much appreciated. I’m creating a Video soon for the whole breakdown. but I created an image which I tried to show the breakdown for the molds, Hope it’s helpful

[Jaime]

Great techniques @reza-lowpoly and thanks for sharing it came out very nice!
Jaime

[nrdiec]

awesome @reza-lowpoly that’s very helpful indeed. thanks for sharing. i have to try it on something now

[reza-lowpoly]

Cheers, Thanks a lot @Jaime much appreciated!

Thanks @nrdiec I’m glad that It was helpful, I would love to see the outcome of that!

[reza-lowpoly]

as the Physical model is in the WIP stage, here are some of the images from the early stages of progress. I tried the 3D Printing pipeline so that the parts would go into each other after the whole piece is finished. The images below are from a Prototype that Mohsen Zare & I did on so that if everything works out we would start the milling on the marble stones.
The Top Image shows the early stages of the cape, the bottom right image is the final prototype which parts went into each other & The bottom left image shows the CNC in action, making the cape.

[reza-lowpoly]

The Piece is finally done and I wanted to share with You the final result.

Vanitas: a Portrayal of Human Degeneration

Vanitas: a Portrayal of Human Degeneration

“Apollo, god of light, he who knows the occult, he who has building skills, owner of the bow and music. Today, mankind has developed a god-like persona. with its knowledge, it’s bow string, symbol of militancy, has been stretched more than ever. Yet instead of reaching a prosperous and peaceful present from its past, we find ourselves in a present marred by conflict and decay. Mold, symbol of degeneration creeps over Apollo’s face, settling upon his brain, symbol of human thought, as a testament to our declining dignity. Darkness has taken hold, consuming what little remains of our once-great civilization.”

the Sculpture that you’re seeing is the first ever Stone sculpture with various real fungus grown over it.

Size:
63x40x30cm
Materials:
Herat Marble, Afghanistan Red Onyx, Iranian Pink Onyx, Iranian Green Onyx, Black Marble, Resin, Various Fungus (Aspergillus flavus, Acremonium, penicillium digitatum, Gliocladium), Cotton, Threads

[vahidahmadizb2016]

reza jan eshghiiiiiiiiiiiii aaaliye pesar. its love letter to classic art with your style .damn good

[reza-lowpoly]

Thanks a lot Vahid, much appreciated buddy

here are some more images and detail shots:

a little bit about the project:
I started this artwork as a Digital concept, I created the scene in ZBrush and rendered in 3ds max. and then with my friend Mohsen Zare used CNC milling. I did the hand sculpting and final details, I created the parts separately and attached them together. for the fungus parts I Faced many errors and failures, wrong colors, problem of fixing the fungus, etc. But the thing that kept me going was that I saw that life is growing on a stone, thanks to Ms.Rokni, a Mycologist who helped me to create a pipeline for developing and fixing the fungus. Sara Tehraninia and I created a structure and base under the fungus with so they can hold still. It was a really challenging yet amazing experiment for me, and the Sculpture that you’re seeing is the first ever Stone sculpture with fungus grown over it. Thanks to Nima Ghari for the Photographs.

without the Power of ZBrush I would never been able to create the whole scene and work on my idea, even in the mold/fungus parts which were completely organic, I used the Zbrush sculpt as the reference so bring out and match the forms.

[Jaime]

Nice r4nders @reza-lowpoly brings the vibe (and details) of the image to a much higher level
Jaime

[reza-lowpoly]

Thank You @Jaime but it’s actually a physical piece and not render

here are some behind the scenes and early stages of the work:

before the fungus growth
!

after the Structure was created

after the Mold/Fungus was grown. - Mobile Camera taken Images: