Additive Assembly of Identical Components

Some of my pieces are built by connecting a series of duplicate parts to form a whole. I often receive odd materials from friends and family; neighbors leave resources on our front porch. These are apt challenges to my creativity. I used discarded aluminum playground rings as the vertebrae for a large snake. I also used copper rings to fabricate a rain chain. Several centipedes assembled using this method were sold to a woman with an affinity for these multi-limbed creatures. One included 20 large drapery rings and the other a series of tie racks laid end to end. The photo example I will include with this post was built with blocks from a miniature masonry toy set my sister-in-law was giving away. This Frankenstein like figurine is connected with 22 gauge jewelry wire. A ruler has been provided to facilitate an appreciation of the scale of the "bricks" in its composition.

Found Objects

Many of my pieces include found objects within other media. However, some are almost entirely made up of these seemingly random parts of the man-made world. The example I will use to illustrate this genre of my work is an angel which was made primarily of wood parts. The elements included dowels. part of a banister, pins and pieces from a Carrom game, a cross and Star of David, "hand" drink stirrers, a 1950's nut tray, Christmas ornaments and a music rest from a piano. It was sold on the same day it was put on display in a neighborhood bakery.

 Archangel Gabriel

Brass Assemblage

Using discarded parts, I assemble brass figurines, flowers and members of the animal kingdom. The parts are from locks: doors, lamp parts, vintage kitchenware, antique plumbing and gasline fixtures. These are mechanically fastened with brass nuts, bolts and washers using a liquid which "locks" the connections. While it takes a degree of imagination to arrange the disparate components, the sheer variety of shapes of objects from these trades lends itself to this endeavor. Laying out scores of pieces, I visualize myself as a master chef with limitless ingredients available.

Assassin Bug

Man Stopping Traffic

Art as Therapy

Art is both expressive and projective. It enables us to convey echoes of our inner selves, with potentially enlightening results. For three decades, I have used drawings with clients of all ages. An example is a sketch of a house, a tree and a person made by the individual and then interpreted by a clinician. My brother Mike, a school psychologist, aided me in honing the use of this diagnostic tool. Art can also be transformative. About twenty years ago, my friend and colleague Laura showed me how to use oven-baked clay to make sculptures with therapy groups. Self-portraits are hand built by the members as a process of  healing and empowerment. I will post the sculpture I made of myself during one of the sessions we conducted with teens.

Stef

Fun Car-top Sculptures

For the amusement of myself, friends and the general public,  I create animal sculptures to mount on the roof of my car. The "skin" or "scales" of these pieces have included media as diverse as gutter screen, jute, wire and used hard-drives. The works are surprisingly sturdy and are fastened securely enough for interstate highway driving. A medium-sized moose  which I will cover in a future post was delivered to Cleveland from our home in Ann Arbor in this manner. Below are a polar bear and a gorilla (which currently reside in and on top of the garage).

'Something out of Anything'

I take great pride in re-purposing discarded metal parts, wire, etc. to make sculptures. 
One of the greatest compliments I have ever received about my art was from an indigent man downtown who "nailed" this. Observing me fashioning a triceratops made from aluminum kitchen and gutter parts, the man waved and approached me. He said- " Tell me if I've got this right- you can make something out of anything". I responded, "Exactly" and he ran away smiling. This piece is also illustrative of the process in which I fit parts into a form in some of my sculptures. Below is the Triceratops (commissioned by a barista) at about the stage when the man mentioned saw it.

Triceratops in process

"Single Line" Sculptures

I refer to pieces which are the outline of the object form as single line sculptures.My inspiration for this style was Calder's Circus. Large or small, these are similar to a sketch in drawing and are imagined in the same manner. While ferrous metals can be  tool-bent with little or no damage; copper and brass are gouged by steel tools. Hand bending is required to prevent imperfections which can even be dangerous to the touch. Often  smaller works fashioned this way are done in minutes.  Gravity necessitates that the larger forms have planning to accommodate weight distribution, such as the body on the legs of an animal. Below are three representative examples: the dinosaur is steel, the dragon is copper band and the squirrel is very thick copper wire. These reflect the challenges of hand-building in this style and the striking effect which can be achieved.

Half a T-Rex

European Dragon

Squirrel with Nut

Art and War

General Sherman, a distant relative, said that "War is Hell". Many artists have depicted both hell and war over the millennia and had a profound effect with their work. Unfortunately, war has become a video game for many and the reality has become distant. Bombing and drone strikes also create a push- button detachment from the carnage and anguish. When the US stuck in several countries after 9/11, I felt compelled to put something out in public. I also decided to leave it up until all our troops have left those nations. This assemblage work aims at conveying the emotions of the tragic witnesses of war.

Faces of War

Driftwood Assemblage

I have collected a copious amount of driftwood. Sometimes the shapes lend themselves to direct placement on a flat surface as elements in a mask or landscape. I also fit pieces together to form a sculpture in the round, such as a bird or tree. In some cases both of these techniques are used in tandem. Various methods of fixing and connecting parts are employed, including steel pegs, screws and glue. The combined effect of the shapes and placement can be striking or visceral. These objects have evoked some of the strongest reactions of all my work.

Waterfowl II

Drifty Walker

Commercial Applications I

Following some newspaper publicity and word of mouth connections about twenty years ago, I began to get some commercial commissions. Although many of the businesses are now defunct, the variety of requests was astounding. For example,  I made a 25 foot long bas-relief chinese dragon for a futon store. I installed this at the top of their building on a brick wall. A logo I replicated in wire for a local Marijuana dispensary resulted in a 50$ tip because the proprietor only had a roll of 100s! A Basil Rathbone Holmes statuette I created for a mystery bookstore was awarded to the winner of a Sherlock Holmes look-a-like contest at a conference. Oddly, a Buddha I crafted for a local temple based on the one we visited in Kamakura, Japan was rejected. The priest said it was "too fat" for their sect. One of the most amusing projects was a 3-D sign for a hair studio in the central business district. After a colored pencil conference with "Cookie", the owner,  we settled on an upside-down pyramid with a hair ball on top! I even installed an all-weather light in the upper portion for fun. Lucky for me, she paid a professional sign firm to do the installation. "Liberated" from the site after the demise of the business, it now resides at a friend's vacation home used for music and art parties.

Above Ground Hair Studio

My Take on Dada

Dada, a movement in the art world,  is both sophisticated in its premise and often simple in its execution. While it began as a reaction to WWI,  it was also a rejection of bourgeois values and the narrow-minded art world. It can be a play on the consumer world we inhabit or poke fun at what mainstream society believes is valuable in life. Often everyday objects are refashioned with an absurd twist. I was asked to create a set of sculptures to accompany a Dada play about a young man's struggle to become an artist, despite his family's misgivings. What I assembled is below.

The Perfect Family

Masks as Tribute

They have been described as metaphors for transformation. Masks have been utilized to appease the gods who govern the natural forces affecting agriculture. They are tools to ward off demons and angry spirits. Masks can also allow humans to access their "dark side" and perhaps reduce internecine conflict. We commissioned a couple we met in Haines, Alaska to create an eagle moiety mask. Their work honors their ancestors and carries on an important tradition.  In my work, masks provide an avenue to pay tribute to peoples inhabiting Earth,  inspiring animals, characters from literature and the influence of other artists.They are my personal take on a theme, may connect at an oblique angle and often have humorous results.

Tribute to Picasso

The Challenge of the Human Figure

My life-long experience drawing animals, trees and flowers has facilitated the creation of sculptures of various fauna and flora. However, I stopped drawing people in junior high school. The proportions, physical attitude and especially faces are a challenge. My friends and fans have helped me enormously with their feedback. My lack of formal art training, combined with a rapid style of rendering objects has resulted in bizarre figures. Although viewers enjoy them; they have been difficult to sell. Below is a humanoid created in the late 1990's.

Dynamo Man