December 1984. Slate, steel. Dimensions: 10.5 × 4 × 3 in (27 × 10 × 8 cm).
Collection: Delaware Museum, Wilmington, DE
Slate Totem II, created at my Jersey City studio, was the fourth of the “closed-base” totems and the second to use slate rather than granite. The work continues my transition away from the open, interlocking structures of the tensegrity, or Brute Series, toward more solid forms and a greater emphasis on overall image and visual presence. A large steel locking pin, salvaged from heavy construction machinery, is prominently positioned between the two halves of the pyramidal base, structurally preventing them from spreading. Welded flanges give the connector a cross-like or cruciform appearance. While its exposed function recalls my earlier concern with making how a sculpture holds itself together central to the work, its religious associations introduce a more ritualistic and mystical presence.
The Totem Series grew from the tall, eroded rock spires I encountered after moving West to Laramie, Wyoming, particularly the way they rose from sloping accumulations of fallen material at their bases. In Slate Totem II, that geological relationship is distilled into the contrast between the rugged vertical slate and low geometric steel pyramid. The prominent cruciform connector occupies a threshold between function and symbol: it physically locks the sculpture together while suggesting meanings beyond its structural role. In this sense, the work marks a further movement away from the “truth to materials” emphasis of my earlier sculpture toward a more evocative, symbolic, and ritualistic visual language.
December 1984. Slate, steel. Dimensions: 10.5 × 4 × 3 in (27 × 10 × 8 cm).
Collection: Delaware Museum, Wilmington, DE
Slate Totem II, created at my Jersey City studio, was the fourth of the “closed-base” totems and the second to use slate rather than granite. The work continues my transition away from the open, interlocking structures of the tensegrity, or Brute Series, toward more solid forms and a greater emphasis on overall image and visual presence. A large steel locking pin, salvaged from heavy construction machinery, is prominently positioned between the two halves of the pyramidal base, structurally preventing them from spreading. Welded flanges give the connector a cross-like or cruciform appearance. While its exposed function recalls my earlier concern with making how a sculpture holds itself together central to the work, its religious associations introduce a more ritualistic and mystical presence.
The Totem Series grew from the tall, eroded rock spires I encountered after moving West to Laramie, Wyoming, particularly the way they rose from sloping accumulations of fallen material at their bases. In Slate Totem II, that geological relationship is distilled into the contrast between the rugged vertical slate and low geometric steel pyramid. The prominent cruciform connector occupies a threshold between function and symbol: it physically locks the sculpture together while suggesting meanings beyond its structural role. In this sense, the work marks a further movement away from the “truth to materials” emphasis of my earlier sculpture toward a more evocative, symbolic, and ritualistic visual language.
installed at the Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington
installed at the Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington
US Western landscape influence
