I was attracted to the welding of scrap metal the minute a friend with whom I painted for years, invited me to her garage to see her welded sculpture – it was magic for me. The intuitive method of working with steel scrap provided me the freedom and flexibility to exercise my creative expression on a 3-dimensional level. The additive vs. subtractive method of creating a sculpture was just my favorite way of handling the raw material. This opened many doors for me artistically, as I began to create welded sculptural assemblages, which I consider 3-dimensional drawings. Terms such as composition, balance and movement are very important to me in developing the three dimensional work I create.
Our environment is the source for my inspiration and art work. We live with man-made treasures which we cherish and at the end of their life cycle, they get discarded. I enter the picture at that point, and as an artist, I recycle the scrap, the used “trash” and give it a new meaning and life. I transform car parts into new sculptural entities which convey a fresh composition and present an aesthetic challenge for the viewer.
The message of my work literally and figuratively is that our environment can be enhanced and saved from decay and destitution through different efforts – one of which is using the artist’s creativity (as an example of recycling) to transform the discards into a new form of aesthetic values.
To conceive the work, I comb scrap metal and junk yards and find interesting shapes of discarded found-objects and cutouts, which serve as the raw material for my creations. My objective is to transform these elements, and to elevate the “junk” into a new aesthetic entity whose lines flow in space. The heavy metals I use seem decisively light and airy due to the movement of the composition. The identity of the original found objects disappear into the new work of art, while simultaneously encouraging the observer to discover the original, familiar objects within the composition. Sometimes an element of humor is involved in the process of discovering the found objects and the “new life” they assumed.
My sculptures can be displayed as individual standing pieces, hung on the wall, singular or in series, or placed on a flat pedestal. I also create installations, which vary in size to suit a given space or environment. In some cases the original colors of the found metal are preserved and intensified by varnish coating, while in other works the metal is manipulated and painted.
THE 70’s
In the 1970’s, I did mostly paintings, moving from Abstract Expressionism, through hard edge, minimalism and stain paintings. I also studied metal sculpture with a sculptor, Leon Sitarchuk, and worked with carbon steel cutouts and stainless steel and experimented with different methods.
THE 80’s
In the early 1980’s, I created a sculpture series of flat planes, cut sheets of metal, painted flat black with a reference to works of Tony Smith and Louis Nevelson. In the mid 80’s, I worked with stainless steel, creating a body of work that ranged from large-scale floor sculpture, pedestal works, and wall sculptures. I explored a variety of finishes, employing a grinder to achieve Abstract Expressionist strokes, or using a soft buffing process. These assemblages were meant to flow in space with balance and elegance, and to be viewed from different sides and positioned in different angles. The reflection of the light added an element of excitement and strength, as it hits the different planes of each piece. They all seemed light and airy, which, of course, was not the case.
At the same time, I continued to work with scrap metal, with its natural rust finish, that was a contrast to the pristine surface of the stainless. These sculptures also ranged in size and included wall pieces, which I viewed as 3D metal paintings.
THE 90’s
In the 1990’s I continued to look for discarded stainless and carbon steel cutouts, tools, and car parts, working in my studio to transform them into machine like structures, which sometimes evolved into sculptural objects suggestive of very large pieces of jewelry, which I titled “Brooches for Walls and Buildings”. I focused on horizontal compositions, some of which were displayed low and viewed from above. Other pieces were wall hung. I began grouping wall pieces and connecting them with lengths of chain, which resulted in large wall installations. The juxtaposition and play of positive and negative elements gave the weighty and substantial pieces an undeniable sense of lightness.
I continued to investigate every aspect in the construction of these new works; the positive and negative spaces, the shadows, the texture, the line, the color, aiming for the end result of a richly satisfying aesthetic sculptural experience.
IN 2000
I created my first site specific floor installation, Urban Transformation: 50 Fenders, 30 Tires, in which I explored issues of composition, balance, movement, and line, in new ways. I was interested in the transformation of discarded auto parts – the great urban nuisance – into a new aesthetic experience. By matching the scale of the elements to that of the real urban landscape, I could interact with the material in a more intense and intimate manner than ever before. By using gravity in placing the car parts and not welding the material permanently, I achieved a level of freedom and flexibility in the seemingly haphazard placement of the fenders, tires, exhaust pipes and mufflers. For the viewer, there was a surprise in each step as they interacted with the work by walking around it or viewing it from above. I was hoping that this journey would lead them to reach their own aesthetic transformation.
At the same time, I continued to create series of wall-hung pieces that played with literal space, from the wall behind the sculpture, to the work’s most frontal surface. Using narrow unparalleled bars as replacement to the traditional square frames, to define the outer boundaries, I welded a composition of found objects to create a contained yet complex visual “story” of negative and positive space, line and mass, push and pull.
IN 2003
I created a room size hanging installation, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, composed of suspended fender parts, slashed tires, and exhaust pipes. Instead of welding the elements, or arranging the composition on the floor as in my previous installation, I hung them, creating a composition, floating in space. This produced an aesthetically pleasing, moving symphony of colors, shapes and shadows, enhanced by the clanking metal sound heard as one passed by.
I also created a series of wall sculptures that I viewed as 3D paintings, with the white wall acting as a negative space, yet again giving an illusion of airiness to the very heavy metal elements.
IN 2006
I continued with installation work that transforms old discarded metal car fenders, and completed my most recent installation, Black Islands. Black Islands is a room-size floor installation made up of three “islands” that utilizes harsh flattened rolled and painted car fenders resting on sheets of flowing soft rubber, all splashed with a liquid rubbery texture. The composition transformed the elements into haunting dark islands of danger and fear, which evoked the feeling of despair and destruction. The view of the islands from above, brought to mind the monochromatic sculptural works of the 70s and 80s. The narrative of black islands in a sea of hope, brings this provocative presentation to a peaceful conclusion.
For the first time I included in this show, a body of work composed of three-dimensional work on paper, that were strongly related to my metal installation. Since my days as a painter, I have been extremely fond of paper, its different textures and its endless possibilities. The transformation and recycling concepts I fondly exercised in my metal medium, were easily borrowed, using old ink drawings, which I did of my sculptures in the early 80’s. Rolling the drawings whole or cutting them into pieces and then rolling the fragments, repeated the idea of the rolled fenders and embraced the narrative of destruction and hope. Compositionally, the rolls move in and out, bounce over and under and create an aesthetic play of light and dark, black and white.
