Bronzes 1-5, 2010
patinated bronze
34 x 24 x 12 / 34 x 24 x 13 / 33 x 21 x12 / 12 x 26 x 37 /
11 x 29 x
Sculpture is sculpture. Everything else is everything
else. In the Bronzes series the properties of the medium and the body extended
through arms and hands in interaction has been taken as a point of departure.
How the material reacts to intervention is sought preserved as form. This
demands a change in pace from brutality to gentle caress: The hand digs into
the clay, attacks it, sees and feels it, then tends it. The consistency and
output shape of the clay is protected as absolute terms. As is its slow
petrifaction: The clay begins to solidify after one go at manipulation.
However, the sculpture must be translated to another material to be preserved,
causing a significant alteration of appearance. The premise here is one of
premonition: Any adaptation must also take into consideration the qualities of
bronze material. The actual translation is in practice analogous, through a
process of hand-made molds and chemical surface
treatment (patination). The remainder is a cast,
which is also the unique final product. This is how it shall be experienced,
fully released from the preceding process. The ideas which served as incentives
to production, is now at work in the world in concrete shape, as solid matter.
Photos courtesy GAD/Øystein
Thorvaldsen