It’s all in how you shape it

“Doubt is an uncomfortable position, but certainty is a ridiculous one.”—Voltaire

When it comes to my artwork, the question I get asked more than any other is this: “What did you use to make the [insert part of sculpture here]?”

I usually balk at giving a specific answer, and it’s not because I’m trying to protect some trade secret. The truth is, I’m always finding new ways to create familiar objects, and in doing so, it forces my work to evolve.

As a novice artist in 2008-2009, I often found myself sticking to a formula, especially with the motorcycles: I used the same found pieces, for example, nuts for wheels or metal slugs for the seats, over and over again. I scrounged up as many of these familiar items as I could, because I was afraid of what would happen if I ran out. I was comfortable building with the parts I was accustomed to.

Eventually, however, boredom with the familiar (and my dwindling parts hoard) compelled me to try new things. Instead of bringing my career as an artist to a screeching halt, it led to exciting new twists in my style. My best leaps forward have been the result of problem-solving. Finally, I was determined to push the envelope with each piece.

To fill in the blank of the question in the first paragraph, literally the thing I get asked about the most are the wheels/tires on my automobile or motorcycle sculptures. And there is no one answer. I’ve used pipe, tube, bearings, washers, flat plate, round stock, nuts, bolt heads, and copper inserts. I’ve used pieces separately and together. I’ve formed and joined parts to create wheels in more ways than I can count.

In the end, it’s not about the part you start with, it’s how you make that part fit your vision.

“What gauge sheet metal do you work with?” Beats me, it’s all scrap; I don’t measure the thickness, I just bang it into shape. Again, it’s making whatever you have access to work. At least for me it is.

A few years back I did a few sculptures of “Bender” the robot. A month or two later I did three more. People would look at the limbs or its body and try to guess what they were made from. But even though the final form of the first four robots and the last three gave the same impression, the metal I began with and worked with was completely different. I shaped it to fit my vision.

So don’t worry too much about the pile of junk or type of steel you start with. It’s just metal. It’s your job to turn it into something more.

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