"Anxiety"-A 3D Art Design Based on Shadows

I have created a 3D artwork centered around a human hand.

I made it to express how we are sometimes overwhelmed by excessive information, leading to feelings of anxiety and confinement. The overall color and material choices convey a digital age vibe and a sense of loss, as if color is fading away.

The incorporation of shadows helps express a restless, unsettled feeling, as though inner peace is unattainable. In this work, shadows is no longer a untouchable phenomenon. It has being used to express emotions.

Materials required include:

1. Tin foil - used to fill the muscle structure of the hand
2. Wire - for constructing the hand’s skeleton and the framework of the surrounding shadows
3. Thread - to assist in shaping the shadows
4. Hot glue/glue gun- for securing connections
5. PVC Board - as a background for your statue
6. Light source - for shadow creations and photography

I used pencils to sketch in my notebook, trying to capture the sense of tension and anxiety that I wanted to express. Eventually, I settled on using a human hand as the main subject. Then, I wrapped a charging cable around my hand to approximate the look of the final piece I had in mind.

I took a small amount of wire and did a simple test to see how to construct a hand skeleton, checking whether it would be sturdy and realistic enough. After verifying its feasibility, I used materials scaled 1:1 to the size of my hand to create the final version.

I wrapped tin foil around the skeleton to shape the hand, then pressed and molded it to create the lines and textures of the hand. Stop adding tin foil when you think the hand model have reached the appropriate thickness.

I extended the wire from the ends of the hand outward to form the framework of the surrounding shadows. Then, I wove thread through the gaps in the wire to add depth and layers to the shadows. Use the glue gun to stick the wire and thread at the right place or on the PVC board.

I used a photography lamp to adjust the angle and intensity of the light, observing which angle produced shadows that best conveyed the intended emotion of anxiety. I ultimately chose the angle where the shadows were most complex yet did not overlap excessively.