Assemblage Sculpture
In an effort to play catch-up on last semester’s work at KSU, I finally took a halfway decent shot of my final project for Sculpture I. This thing was difficult to photograph as a whole. In fact, I think I’d like to take some close-up shots just for the potentially interesting imagery it might create.
The project was an assemblage of found objects. Using a large old tree branch, I wrapped select branches and joints with bright silver wire. The wire started and stopped via embedding into tiny holes hand-drilled in the branches. At intervals along the branch, the silver wire carried leaves cut from circuit boards I scavenged from various defunct hardware lying in the basement. Also from the pits of Spiderland were inoperative cell phones. I sprayed these a bold flat red and wired them to the branches like outdated fruit. (I actually liked the sculpture a lot better before the garish “fruits” were attached.)
The piece was titled “Overripe”. The whole concept behind the thing was based on technology and how as soon as a “new” technology or upgrade hits the public market, it is already practically obsolete.
Although this piece has returned to its roots (back in the basement from whence most of it originated), I would like to revisit this concept again some time. I think a small bush, very bonsai-like with twisted arms and sparse but well-placed branches, supported by a stone container, would make an interesting sculpture wrapped intermittently with wire and adorned with dozens of circuit board leaves. It would be cool if the wire were thin enough to allow the leaves to nod a bit in passing breezes. Maybe some day I will find the time, because I think about it fairly often. Perhaps it will find its way into a painting instead. Either way, there’s something about the integration of the soft gray wood against the bright silver wire, the organic merged with the man-made, that holds a big appeal to me. Don’t be surprised if you see this concept from me again!
