In November 2014, I was inspired by an article on potential meteor strikes on the earth, which included a picture of a computer simulation of the impact of such an event. I wanted to interpret this in three dimensions, but also wanted to create something by hand - without the aid of computers for fabrication - that looked computer generated. I have always liked the pixelated aesthetic of digital art, so was attracted to the idea of representing something in the physical world as a low-resolution 6-by-6 matrix in three dimensions. The 36 individual pyramid shapes were cut, folded, and glued out of paper card stock, then mounted on a stretched canvas and painted with textured spray paint. It was very labor intensive, but the resulting piece came out just as I had pictured it in my head, so I was pretty pleased with it.
This first piece - entitled “Impact #1 - was exhibited as part of the “10 x10” art show at ArtWorks in Trenton, NJ in December, 2014, and was sold within the first half-hour at the opening reception. I was very happy to see it sold to an art collector, but was sort of disappointed that more people didn’t get to see it; the exhibit was a fundraiser for the gallery, and buyers were allowed to immediately remove and take home their purchases.
I am currently creating variations on this theme, and will be updating this page as new pieces are completed. I plan to explore using different fabrication techniques and materials - such as wood, ceramic, plastic and metal - as well as scaling the basis form to larger dimensions and complexity. These are the first sculptures I’ve attempted since college, so it is exciting to have been re-inspired by my artistic muse after all these years, and to have had such a welcome initial reception to my new artistic explorations!
