This research investigates the dichotomy between traditional sculptural practices and digital fabrication, of which heavily altered the course of production, virtually removing the laborer from the floor entirely. I am specifically interested in the repetitive tasks done by iron laborers, past and present, and the subsequent damage done to their bodies in the process. I wonder how this physical damage changed entire communities. I hope to continue a conversation about these issues, and therefore amplifying the voice of the skilled laborer.
Archive #568062, (Re-tasking the Relic)
Post-Automation Collection
digital print, PLA filament, steel, 2020
~ 24” x 5” x 36
During my time at Santa Fe Art Institute, I have produced a series of objects incorporating metal with 3D printed forms to further stress the dichotomy between traditional sculptural practices and digital fabrication, of which heavily altered the course of production, virtually removing the laborer from the floor entirely. I want to explore how an object’s aura changes when translated from steel to plastic.
Pictured here are 3D scanned metal working machinery. Focusing on extracting their essence, my current aim is to make the objects that might exist in a post-automation boom archive, creating and showcasing fragmented information along with relic-like phantom objects. I plan to continue to unpack this practice of rendering an object non-functional as a way to honor it.
Post-Automation Collection
PLA filament, knobs, 2020
~10” x 4” x 30”
When presenting tools as art, and metal as plastic, common objects undergo metamorphosis. This elevates the object while also showing its potential disappearance; lamenting for their predecessors.
Remnant of a Hooked Chain
Remnant of a Tire Iron
vacu-formed plastic, iron coating, cyanotype made from 1950s original, 2020
steel, 2020
24” x 32” x 1/8”
I’m drawn to these objects. I’ve seen them in so many shops, often as defunct technology from an industrial boom that I can only imagine, the cost of dismantling too high to bother. Yielding years of experience, they quietly hang, now obsolete, as if aching for a new job.
From the Shoulder to the Wrist
steel, plasti-dip, 2020
14” x 32”
I am specifically interested in the repetitive tasks done by laborers, past and present, in relation to the actions done by the hand and the arm. I wonder how new methods of fabrication, specifically automation, is changing how makers relate to objects. I practice this directly in the making of my own work.
steel, 2020
12” x 6”
Lever Love - CNC Revolt
steel, plasti-dip, 2020
12” x 6”
