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ABOUT THE ARTWORK
This totem features a roughly used piece of steel that has been spattered with melted steel. The spatter is then gilded with 24k gold. The edges are cut with an industrial tool (plasma cutter) that creates a flame so hot that it vaporizes steel. The totem is one of a series that incorporate simple metal elements floated over charred wood. They range from 24" to 48" tall. Most are 6" wide or less. They stand out several inches from the wall. Each has its own charm and interest, but they look best in groups of 5 or more. Each totem is unique. I make each design only once. This accords with my need to invent, to create something new. Some textures and forms appear again and again, but in infinite variation. Most of the steel and wood I use is salvaged. The steel comes from junkyards, roadsides, fields. It may be dented, rusted, or gouged, which gives it a strong sense of endurance and strength. Most of the wood is oak, hammered from pallets that carried industrial materials and machines. Most shows scars here and there. These are hard-working materials that find new life in a beautiful form unlike their previous lives. I do not paint the steel. All colors and textures are natural, properties of the steel itself. The charred surface of the wood recalls a Japanese technique for preserving wood siding without paint or other sealant. It's call sho sugi ban. The wood is burned till the surface cracks. But the char is thin. The wood beneath it remains strong.
Original Created:
2023
Subjects:
DETAILS AND DIMENSIONS
Print:
Giclee on Canvas
Size:
16 W x 16 H x 1.25 D in
Size with Frame:
17.75 W x 17.75 H x 1.25 D in
Frame:
White
Canvas Wrap:
Black Canvas
Ready to Hang:
Yes
Packaging:
Ships in a Box
SHIPPING AND RETURNS
Delivery Time:
Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.
Handling:
Ships in a box. Art prints are packaged and shipped by our printing partner.
Ships From:
Printing facility in California.
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James McKenna
United States
Endurance and authenticity are the core of my 3D work. Many of my steel works are made with salvage steel and wood. Many are the exact shape and size in which they were found. Fragile surface features of metal—often various shades of rust—are preserved with careful hardware attachment and final assembly. Wood backings—mostly oak—are salvaged from hard-used industrial pallets. The surface of each of these boards is burned with an intense flame. Inner wood retains its strength, but the surface is cracked and fissured. Whether a material is raw, brightened, polished, burned or any of the other surfaces I use—all colors are inherent in the material. Steel appears in familiar gray, or it can be various hues of rust. It can even show colors natural to the metal when it is subjected to heat and glows red, yellow, or even white. Brass and copper may be bright or darkened with patina. Gilding is the butter yellow of pure gold. Texture is essential. Unusual uses of industrial tools create a wide range of textures. Some pieces of steel are spattered with liquid steel. Others have lines ground into them or deep gouges burned out with an electric-arc-based tool that reaches temperatures of 40,000 degrees, instantly boiling the metal and blasting it away. Materials you see in my works have had hard lives, but they have endured. Through all their transformations they remain themselves. An array of these works on your wall speaks of the your own authenticity, and of your endurance. I began in metal years ago as an undergraduate. Then it was small-scale objects of copper, brass, and sliver. Even then I leaned into the raw. My work often mirrored the rough aesthetic of Arte Povera. Through stints in writing, furniture making, photography, I developed my mature style. My work took on nuance and focus. The challenges and satisfactions of my life path underlie my art practice. What I’ve seen and what I’ve done, things I recall with joy, things I try to forget—it’s all here, transformed by my commitment to follow this vision.
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