TORSO IV Sculpture

My work is usually based upon the human(oid?) figure and I also love the ancient Classical legends and their associated works of art. As is the case with a lot of my art, the style is influenced by Picasso's approach to form, but also by my recent discovery of the work of Julio Gonzalez and David Smith. Having read Smith's collected writings, I was particularly struck by the sense of his artistic integrity and his passion for ensuring the artist was involved with every stage of the creation of a piece. Being aware how harsh and industrial the reclaimed preformed steel I currently use as material is, I am trying to find ways to reduce or even undermine that effect. In his writings, Smith talks about the two strands of metal sculpture; forged/cast work and fabrication. This piece, therefore, is an attempt to marry the geometric fabricated 'personages' of David Smith with the monumental organic cast figures of Henry Moore. I hope the viewer will recognise that the sculpture represents a human torso despite being abstracted greatly, and that they will take pleasure in the fact that it was all created by the artist's hand by long and slow trial and error rather than using 3D computer software to design it. I hope, too that the viewer will be of the opinion that the sculpture feels both ancient and modern. The sculpture is made from reclaimed mild steel using the arc welding process, ground and polished to the best reflective surface possible, and then painted with three coats of acrylic lacquer. It should be noted that, being formed from several different sections of reclaimed metal, the surface finish of this piece does vary a little bit from plane to plane due to the varying amount of distress each individual piece suffered before being reclaimed, as well as the differing amounts of rust that had to be removed from each surface, not to mention my developing skills with an angle grinder. Personally speaking, I think these variations add real character to the piece.