January 2005. Slate, steel. Dimensions: 21 × 20 × 6 in (53 × 51 × 15 cm). Private Collection.
Cudgel ’05 is part of my long-running Cudgel Series and continues my interest in tools and implements as expressive sculptural forms. I have long thought of tools as extensions of the hand and am drawn to their forms shaped by function. Here the sweeping curved steel suggests a handle, while the slate assumes the weight and presence of the head or blade of a primitive hand tool or weapon—a cudgel.
The sculpture also reflects my continuing effort to “choreograph” traditionally earthbound stone. The steel lifts and suspends the slate, giving the heavy material an unexpected sense of movement while suggesting the physical action of a tool being raised or swung.
January 2005. Slate, steel. Dimensions: 21 × 20 × 6 in (53 × 51 × 15 cm). Private Collection.
Cudgel ’05 is part of my long-running Cudgel Series and continues my interest in tools and implements as expressive sculptural forms. I have long thought of tools as extensions of the hand and am drawn to their forms shaped by function. Here the sweeping curved steel suggests a handle, while the slate assumes the weight and presence of the head or blade of a primitive hand tool or weapon—a cudgel.
The sculpture also reflects my continuing effort to “choreograph” traditionally earthbound stone. The steel lifts and suspends the slate, giving the heavy material an unexpected sense of movement while suggesting the physical action of a tool being raised or swung.
