January 1982. Granite, steel. Dimensions: 8 × 3 × 4 ft.
Private collection - Washington, DC
Totem I was created at my N Street studio in Washington, DC, and was the first of what I think of as the “closed-base” totems, marking an important transition in my work. I was moving away from the open, interlocking forged-steel structures of the tensegrity, or Brute Series, toward more solid supporting forms and a greater emphasis on the sculpture’s overall image and visual presence. The pyramidal steel base supports the tall vertical stone while recalling the sloping geological formations that originally inspired the Totem Series. The forged-steel clasps at the front and back, wrapping around projecting steel posts to prevent the base from spreading, are both functional and a deliberate link to the structural vocabulary of my earlier work.
The original inspiration for the Totems came from the tall, eroded rock spires I encountered after moving West to Laramie, Wyoming. I was particularly struck by the way these vertical formations often rose from broad, sloping accumulations of eroded and fallen material gathered at their bases over time. In Totem I, that geological relationship is transformed into the contrast between the rugged, vertical stone and the low, geometric steel pyramid. Rather than focusing primarily on making physical forces visible, as I had in the tensegrity works, I was beginning to use structure in service of a more unified and evocative sculptural image. Totem I established this new direction and was followed by four additional closed-base totems.
January 1982. Granite, steel. Dimensions: 8 × 3 × 4 ft.
Private collection - Washington, DC
Totem I was created at my N Street studio in Washington, DC, and was the first of what I think of as the “closed-base” totems, marking an important transition in my work. I was moving away from the open, interlocking forged-steel structures of the tensegrity, or Brute Series, toward more solid supporting forms and a greater emphasis on the sculpture’s overall image and visual presence. The pyramidal steel base supports the tall vertical stone while recalling the sloping geological formations that originally inspired the Totem Series. The forged-steel clasps at the front and back, wrapping around projecting steel posts to prevent the base from spreading, are both functional and a deliberate link to the structural vocabulary of my earlier work.
The original inspiration for the Totems came from the tall, eroded rock spires I encountered after moving West to Laramie, Wyoming. I was particularly struck by the way these vertical formations often rose from broad, sloping accumulations of eroded and fallen material gathered at their bases over time. In Totem I, that geological relationship is transformed into the contrast between the rugged, vertical stone and the low, geometric steel pyramid. Rather than focusing primarily on making physical forces visible, as I had in the tensegrity works, I was beginning to use structure in service of a more unified and evocative sculptural image. Totem I established this new direction and was followed by four additional closed-base totems.
