Tool or Sculpture? Both!

The What Bone is Connected to the What Bone?

You may have noticed two styles of the Artipose mannequin. One I’ve nicknamed “Limber Jack.” He has lean muscles and a rigid ribcage. The other version is our more highly articulated production figure. It’s foundational and intended to be used as the underpinnings to sculpture and as a reference for 2D pieces. Think of an embodied variant of Andrew Loomis’ lovely stick figure.

There’s some context here, a captivating arc of discovery and experimentation.

Back muscles confound me. They’re often covered in clothing and almost always in thick skin and adipose tissue. Our backs are a prairie of soft mounds with obscure boundaries that aren’t named in the grade school gymnasium to the same degree that biceps or pecs are. They are, to me, like amorphous amoebas.

I am embarrassed of my ignorance around human anatomy. Even when I coddle my ego with soothing self-talk, I know that I’ve deliberately avoided careful, repetitive study of back muscles and bones. They just don’t clamor for attention like rippling quads or get cool, easy names. Supraspinatus? Seriously!

It was out of this inadequacy that Artipose was conceived. I want a tool that can encompass the articulation range of the most flexible of people. I want to intuitively sense how the pelvis tilts relative to the ribcage, how the scapula floats around back there. I figure a better tool will give me confidence at parties when topics of artistic anatomy pop up.

Existing solutions (ahem, cheap wooden mannequins or action figures) just don’t accomplish that. And I humbly acknowledge that Artipose has gaps in its functionality too. But I’ve picked my poison, and it tastes better.

Early Artipose prototypes used wooden dowels between the joints. Then I started sculpting on top of those miniature “bones.” It wasn’t long before I was faced with the limitation that clay and epoxy create because they just don’t squish like real muscles. Real fleshy joints are comprised of materials that get out of the way when a limb is flexed. Hard sculpting media do not. So, I shaped, carved and hacked away at that for a while until I was satisfied with the compromise between the form and the degree of articulation.

After all that, I felt like I had more of a collector’s figurine, or the basis for an articulated sculpture that would be more suited to a fireplace mantle or art gallery as opposed to an artist’s studio.

Some paint, love and a little time and we’ve got Limber Jack.

Tool VS Sculpture: Two Faces of Artipose

Foundational Artipose

Extreme articulation, flexibility in proportions, simplified limbs that suggest structure. Think Andrew Loomis stick figure, but in 3D. This mannequin is available for purchase now.

Limber Jack

Early Artipose prototype turned fine art figurine. These are the one-offs, the limited edition pieces that have been customized artistically. They’ll be made for sale as they become available.