Elements of the grotesque in sculpture

Mitologija mi je blizu že od nekdaj in vedno znova me pritegnejo bitja, kot so troli, palčki, škrati in ostale groteske, katere se sicer običajno ali pa vsaj na samem začetku pojavljajo v bajkah in pravljicah. V svojem diplomskem delu sem želela podrobneje raziskati izvor mitologije in rojstvo mitoloških bitij, ter kdaj se s svojo groteskno podobo kot izrazna pojavijo v kiparstvu. Zanima me namreč, na kakšen način so znana in mogoče malce manj znana bitja iz mitologije upodobljena in v katerem trenutku se miti iz zgodb selijo v realnost. V prvem sklopu diplomskega dela sem tako najprej podrobno predstavila izraze satira, ironija, karikatura in groteska, večji poudarek pa namenila slednji. V nadaljevanju raziskujem zgodovino mitologije, in kako se skozi upodabljanje mitoloških bitij kaže grotesknost le teh. Poleg zgodovine mitov bom raziskala še, kako se miti selijo v realnost in na kašen način se kažejo v kiparstvu. Vsekakor bom v diplomsko delo vključila tudi dela modernih umetnikov - kiparjev, ki na prvi pogled sicer z mitologijo nimajo kaj dosti skupnega, mi je pa tukaj pomemben njihov grotesken prikaz, katerega umetnik običajno doseže z manipulacijo, bodisi materiala, podobe ali nam že znanih objektov. Na koncu prvega dela so predstavljena še lastna dela, ki so med pisanjem diplomskega dela nastajala na podlagi trenutnega navdiha in čustev. V drugem delu diplomskega dela opišem pedagoško izvedbo likovne naloge v dveh prvih letnikih Srednje šole. Opišem, kako smo se z dijaki sprehodili skozi zgodovino mitologije in njeno grotesknost prenesli v današnji čas. Dijaki so nato novo znanje povezali z že usvojenim in izdelali groteskna bitja iz materiala, s katerim do sedaj še niso rokovali. Dijaki so se pri izvedbi likovne naloge izjemno potrudili kljub temu, da je bil učni nastop izveden na zadnji šolski dan in so bili po večini z mislimi že na počitnicah.I have always felt a close connection with mythology as I am constantly drawn to creatures such as trolls, dwarfs, elves and other grotesque beings which most commonly, or at least in the beginning, appear in stories and fairy tales. In my dissertation I wished to explore the origin of mythology and the creation of mythological beings more thoroughly as well as when they appear in their grotesque form in sculpture. I am interested in what way the well-known as well as slightly less recognized creatures of mythology are depicted and in which moment the myths from fairly tales found their way to reality. In the first segment of my dissertation I therefore defined the terms satire, irony, caricature, humor and grotesque in detail, with emphasis on the latter. In continuation I explore the history of mythology and how the grotesque is shown through the depiction of mythological creatures. Other than the history of mythology I will also research how these myths find their way to reality and in what way they appear in sculpture. I will certainly include works of art by contemporary artists in this dissertation - sculptors who at first glance do not have anything in common with mythology, but whose depiction of the grotesque is achieved by manipulating material, figureand simple deformation of already known objects. At the end of the first segment I also display my own works of art that were created while writing this dissertation as a result of inspirations and emotions at the time. At the end of the second segment of this dissertation I describe a pedagogical execution of an art assignment in two first year classes in middle school. I recount how I walked the students through the history of mythology and transfered the grotesque to present times. The students then combined this new information with previously obtained knowledge and created mythological beings from materials they had not handled before. I am happy that the students showed utmost effort despite the fact the assignment was carried out on the last day of school and most of them were already dreaming of summer holidays