Monday, November 8, 2010

New Stainless Steel Moniliths. Exhibition in February 2011. Michael Lord Gallery.


After just hitting my 60th Birthday I decided to turn my Sculpture Works to one of the most Durable Sculpture Materials on the Planet "Stainless Steel". Seeing my Life to be in the 4th quarter I have chosen this material as it is sure to endure time for centuries to come. I have almost exclusively worked with the Monolith in Sculpture because of its Modernistic Quality, "Less is More".
Post Modernism gives me a head ache. I really am questioned to analyse my beliefs when confronted with Post Modernist Sculpture. All kinds of Shapes and Volumes thrown together. Its as perplexing as Post Modernist Architecture. If you don't have a Eye for Clean and Simple lines attach a bunch of Spheres or Decorative Shapes on it to dress it up. Trite but True to the Trained Eye. You are left with opposite scenario of "More is Less".
However Old Modernism may be, it will never dated. The "Less is More" Concept will always be the most direct and cleanest solution to composition. It is Timeless as Elegance Itself.

Its Interesting working with the New Technology of today. My New Stainless Series is cut with Laser Beams and Helli-Arced together. The Pieces are part of a Metamorphic Process I have followed for the past 42 years in my Sculpture beginning in Venice Beach, California in 1968-1982. Coming out of Minimalism and the Cube the Sculptural Trend of the 60's, I chose to Abstract the Rectangle. I work with the Rectangle because of its Graceful Proportions, not the stocky stance of the Cube which does not as easily adapt to a Monolithic Format such a Stone Henge. Sculpture had gone to its simplest reductive realm in the 60's, therefore I decided on Abstracting Minimalism and referred to my Sculpture as "Abstract Minimalism". I see my work in its Early Drawings Stages to be very similar to the compositions of Elsworth Kelly. Breaking Shapes Up such as the Rectangle with one or two lines in the right place. The Sculpture is Contained within the Two Dimensional Form with nothing omitted. It is then Opened and reconfigured leaving nothing no waste. Yes this is Minimal. Yes this is Abstract due to the Manipulation of the Sum Total of its Parts.
The Rectangles in this Series have been split with 2 lines from a Vocabulary derived from Simple Minimal Shapes Cut and Opened . The Planes repositioned much like a Flower Blooming. This altering of configuration results in a interaction of the shapes working in opposition to each other. This opposition of Positive and Negative Forms Interacting results in Movement taking you around The Monolith in 360 degrees of continually changing Forms and Relationships. Stainless Steel is expensive and hard to work with, but well worth the price to create pieces that will endure the ages with little Maintenance.
I find Stainless Steel to be more Modern than Bronze its predecessor in the past. By using Stainless my work has entered the realm of "Light and Space", due to the highly reflective nature of the material, a West Coast Tradition and Modernist Concept which I have chosen to profess for its Purity and reference to Nature. I will always remember what my Architect Father and Mentor taught me as Child and what I choose to Profess Today. "When in Doubt, Go to the Light". Some what strange that what began so many years ago in The Bauhaus still Rings even Truer Today.
The Exhibition will include Stainless Steel Table Top Pieces as well as 8 foot Stainless Steel Versions which weigh in excess of 800 pounds.
Earlier select works from Christopher Georgesco's "White Series", "Leaf Series", and "Prismatic Centrifuge Series" 2009 will also be on Display.

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