Metal Sculpture / "Urns and Vessels"

After exhausting my possibilities of more concrete work, I turned to the next medium that my studio was set up to handle. I had a welding table from building the skeletons of steel for my concrete and steel columns and Tripods. I had the welding equipment and grinders ready to put to work. The next move would be to create sculptures from sheet metal. These pieces gave me new possibilities in creating forms with finer features than concrete. Concrete does not lend itself to tight angles and thin dimensions that are possible to achieve in in steel. I chose the color Black for this series as it was closest to the natural; color of hot rolled steel. I had always used the natural color of the materials for my color palette. Steel being prone to rusting , I decided to go with semi gloss black enamel paint to match the original color of the steel as close as possible.

I began to expand on my Vocabulary of shapes as the material opened new possibilities. It was exciting to start building Volumes again unlike the the pieces from my past series which was all planer. One of the most interesting forms that I invented was a Circular form with waving edges. The concept grew from looking at my hands slightly open, but clasped together. Another way to describe it would be to take two curved round potato chips put together with their curves inward and touching in opposed directions. I had never seen such a form and believe it is elementary to Geometry and is as significant a shape as any square,sphere etc. This form is in the foreground of the picture above.

Because of the shapes and volumes of this series I decided to call it "Urns & Vessels", for the obvious reasons of their anthropomorphic and utilitarian shapes as abstract as they are. The Black also gave the somber but tough feeling of a Urn, and the the soaring motion lent itself to the likeness of a vessel. The show embodied abstract versions of the male and female figure along with more geometric subjects. Another shape created was my own version of a Obelisk, a for sided form with opposing wedges, 2 sides up and 2 sides facing down. These possibilities were a real change, and the possibilities of sleeker forms were now possible in steel. The show which was at Newspace Gallery in 1999 was a commercial success, however the reviews were not as favorable. How much credence can you give the opinion of the critic when the public puts out spontaneous support and enthusiasm? This question can open up a whole new topic of discussion.