Skin Art Installation by Maja Kirovska is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award in Fine Arts and Art Installation Design Competition Category.
IronFine Art· 2024
Skin Art Installation
Client: Maja Kirovska
A' Design Award Winner in Fine Art Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #157670The Design
About Skin Art Installation
This art installation is composed of 3 airy human figures made of light natural material (skeletons of tree leaves), which seem to float in free space. They resemble costumes that follow the anatomical shape of the body. Leaf skeletons actually are the circulatory system of a tree leaf, that is, the system that supplies them with water and keeps them alive. These figures, with their transparency, at the same time resemble the skin that the snake sheds after it becomes too tight.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award
Skin Art Installation is an Iron A' Design Award winner, a prestigious recognition granted to good designs that meet the professional and industrial requirements expected from well-designed creations. Iron winners demonstrate great skill, high specialization, expert understanding, and creative capacity of their creators. Skin Art Installation is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished creation that is practical and innovative. This Iron A' Design Award-winning design integrates industry best practices and has competent technical characteristics linked with know-how and talent. Skin Art Installation is respected for its thoroughness and is designed to provide quality of life improvements that help make the world a better place.
Interviews
Grand Interview
Your innovative use of leaf skeletons in Skin Art Installation creates an ethereal dialogue between nature and human form - could you elaborate on how this unique material choice emerged and what it represents in the context of human transformation?
The technique used to create this installation is entirely new, developed through numerous trials and errors. In the end, I succeeded in achieving the ethereal appearance of the objects, which speaks to the ephemeral nature of existence itself and the delicate, transient interplay between the human form and the natural world. The choice of leaf skeletons as a material was inspired by their intrinsic fragility and their ability to metaphorically echo the human skin with its circulatory system. The leaf skeletons symbolize resilience and renewal, highlighting the beauty of the cyclical processes in nature.
The transparent, floating figures in Skin Art Installation seem to capture a moment of metamorphosis - how does this work reflect your artistic vision about the relationship between physical presence and spiritual evolution?
The ethereal quality of the installation speaks to the fragility and impermanence of the human form, while its floating, almost weightless. By using delicate materials like leaf skeletons, I sought to create figures that appear both vulnerable and resilient, reflecting the duality of human existence. This work reminds viewers of transformation as an intrinsic and beautiful part of life. It’s a reminder that we are constantly evolving.
In creating Skin Art Installation, you faced significant technical challenges working with delicate leaf skeletal structures - could you share the experimental process that led to your breakthrough in achieving both anatomical accuracy and ethereal lightness?
Creating the Skin Art Installation required finding the optimal technique for connecting the delicate leaf skeletons to ensure the forms were both stable and ethereal. Leaf skeletons are incredibly fragile and tear easily, making conventional methods, such as stitching, impossible. Through experimentation, I developed a method of connecting the skeletons into a mesh-like structure, which provided the necessary rigidity while still maintaining their lightness.This mesh was carefully arranged to follow the anatomical contours of the human body, emphasizing its structure and organic flow. I used a specialized adhesive technique, ensuring the glue was almost invisible to maintain the ethereal aesthetic. Additionally, I incorporated gradient coloring to enhance the three-dimensionality of the forms and highlight the intricacies of human anatomy. This experimental process was both meticulous and rewarding, allowing the final work to embody the delicate balance between fragility, stability, and anatomical precision.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- This art installation is composed of 3 airy human figures made of light natural material (skeletons of tree leaves), which seem to float in free space. They resemble costumes that follow the anatomical shape of the body. Leaf skeletons actually are the circulatory system of a tree leaf, that is, the system that supplies them with water and keeps them alive. These figures, with their transparency, at the same time resemble the skin that the snake sheds after it becomes too tight.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 3 pieces:
50cm x 20cm x 160cm
40cm x 22cm x 140cm
50cm x 20cm x 165cm - Tags
- skin, leaf skeletons, skeletonized leaves, natural material sculpture, ethereal sculptures, airy sculptures
- Production Technology
- This installation is made of natural tree leaf skeletons. These leaf skeletons were colored and aligned along the human figure to accentuate the anatomical shape.
- Design Challenge
- The process required material testing of adaptability and durability, as the material was not usual and technique of creating the objects needed to be established. Most challenging was to find the bonding material and technique of binding that will allow to create anatomically correct but airy objects. The result was achieved wit transparent fast drying glue and the anatomy of the leaf itself, more precisely the stronger parts of its skeleton that created three-dimensional net-structure, which helped the objects to keep their shape while remaining transparent and airy.
- Research
- This project includes new and unique technique of creating textile-like ethereal objects that are not clothes, but sculptures made of natural material - leaf skeletons. The process required material testing of adaptability and durability, various bonding materials testing and several prototypes were made until the right technology and technique was established.
- Inspiration
- These figures resemble costumes that follow the anatomical shape of the body, and lack limbs and heads similar to the remains of ancient sculptures. With their transparency, at the same time resemble the skin that the snake sheds after it becomes too tight. The form of the human is present as a remnant, as a testimony of his previous state, and he did not disappear, but grew, transformed, overcoming the challenges.
- Project Duration
- The art Installation was created for the thematic exhibition of 3 Macedonian artists, Maja Kirovska, Ana Ivanovska and Hristina Zafirovska, titled "Regeneration", that was shown in the Youth Cultural Centre in Skopje from 18 to 30 of October 2023.
- Operation Flow
- The art installation Skin consists of 3 lightweight ethereal objects that are hung on clothes hanger in the space of the gallery at height and position of real person. They are human sized and positioned in relation one to another as coherent non coherent group depending of the characteristics of the gallery. They move freely as they hand due to air circulation thus receiving dynamic characteristic.
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