January 1979. Colorado flagstone, steel. Dimensions: 27 × 66 × 24 in (69 × 168 × 61 cm).
Arch #2 is part of my tensegrity, or Brute Series, in which gravity and the pressure of the stones provide the energy—or “glue”—that holds the sculpture together without welding. The Arch Series takes its structural and conceptual cue from the architectural arch. Just as a traditional stone arch is self-supporting because its individual elements transfer their weight through compression, these sculptures use gravity as an essential stabilizing force. Stone and forged steel bear upon one another, creating an interdependent structure in which weight becomes an active structural force.
Rather than carving the stone or using it to represent something else, I allow its inherent form, mass, and weight—and the structural behavior of the steel—to become the subject of the sculpture. Gravitational forces are channeled and made visible through the interlocking forged-steel bars, creating a static energy event—a sculpture held in arrested motion. In this sense, the Arch Series is sculpture about sculpture, assemblage about assemblage, while exploring a recurring concern in my work: how opposing forces—weight and lift, mass and movement, tension and stability—can be brought into expressive balance.
January 1979. Colorado flagstone, steel. Dimensions: 27 × 66 × 24 in (69 × 168 × 61 cm).
Arch #2 is part of my tensegrity, or Brute Series, in which gravity and the pressure of the stones provide the energy—or “glue”—that holds the sculpture together without welding. The Arch Series takes its structural and conceptual cue from the architectural arch. Just as a traditional stone arch is self-supporting because its individual elements transfer their weight through compression, these sculptures use gravity as an essential stabilizing force. Stone and forged steel bear upon one another, creating an interdependent structure in which weight becomes an active structural force.
Rather than carving the stone or using it to represent something else, I allow its inherent form, mass, and weight—and the structural behavior of the steel—to become the subject of the sculpture. Gravitational forces are channeled and made visible through the interlocking forged-steel bars, creating a static energy event—a sculpture held in arrested motion. In this sense, the Arch Series is sculpture about sculpture, assemblage about assemblage, while exploring a recurring concern in my work: how opposing forces—weight and lift, mass and movement, tension and stability—can be brought into expressive balance.
