Inventory No: 236
Name: Golden means
Completion date of record: 14 September 2016
Size: 20 inches height x 10 inches width x 6 inches depth
Materials: antique plate with 14KT gilding; antique ‘Cranberry’ glass; threaded rod; transmission race; circles; bicycle breaks and bracket; bone.
All details below:
Inventory Nr.: 236
Completion date of record: 14 September 2016
Size: 20 inches height x 10 inches width x 6 inches depth
Materials: antique plate with 14KT gilding; antique ‘Cranberry’ glass; threaded rod; transmission race; circles; bicycle breaks and bracket; bone.
All materials in this piece were specifically chosen and altered by me, the artist. The piece is welded, screwed and glued together. My studio notes on the history, meaning, and the processes by which I altered and incorporated each material in the work follow.
Broken, antique 14KT gilt plate: I acquired the plate in Berlin, Germany after a conversation in the gallery on how people put too much emphasis on the importance of material worth, being successful, and owning things; and how this relates to fostering, finding and applying JOY. I picked this plate for the meaning that was attached to its extreme expense and for the geometry of the cosmos print on it. I dropped the plate intentionally for the purpose of releasing the ‘preciousness’ in both myself and the plate so that this spirit, which was in us both, could cross physical and metaphorical boundaries, and allow for a transformation of matter.
‘Cranberry’ glass: I chose this red, antique glass [noted by the scar on top] for it preciousness and rarity. According to http://www.glass.co.nz/gibruby.htm: Gold ruby, or ‘Cranberry’ glass is made by including gold chloride in the glass mixture. Gold chloride is a solution produced by dissolving gold metal in a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid known as Aqua Regia. Tin, or stannic chloride, is sometimes added in tiny amounts to act as an oxidizer. The process is difficult and expensive. Today studio glassmakers can buy their gold ruby glass in rods from specialist manufacturers. This makes it easier for them, but even more expensive. Most gold ruby glass items made today have a thin layer of gold ruby glass coated with clear crystal. Richard Adolf Zsigmondy won the 1925 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in understanding and explaining that small colloids of gold were responsible for the red color. The most famous period of ‘Cranberry’ glass production was during the Victorian Era in 19th century Britain. The legend of ‘Cranberry’ glass’ discovery was when a noble tossed a gold coin into a mixture of molten glass.
Threaded rod: I chose this to talk about the never ending journey of life.
Transmission race: A precision space that once held the pace and decided speed by encumbering smaller, perfect pieces of bearings.
Circles: signify shifts in consciousness.
Bicycle breaks and bracket: The breaks have many different purposes and meanings in this piece, such as fear, stopping and going; and all these tie back to the broken plate.
Bones: signify morality, inner structure, nature, foundation of life and no hidden agenda.