sculpture – K.R.'s Metal Art Forms

February 8, 2018December 4, 2023

Spacetime

Status: In a Private Collection

Application: Indoor/Outdoor

Signed: KR2015

“Spacetime” is an abstract sculpture that is comprised of new materials and found objects, and it is reflective of my fascination with the origins of our existence. In theoretical physics, the fabric of spacetime is the combination of the three dimensions of space with the fourth dimension of time. According to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, the force of gravity has he ability to bend the fabric of spacetime and, thereby, change the passage of time. No where is this phenomenon more evident than with the gravitation forces of large celestial bodies, like stars and blackholes and “Spacetime” seeks to represent that phenomenon.

The piece is made of 1/8″ weathering steel, welded together with with 309L stainless steel, using the tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) process, to help accent the seams of the piece.

The vortex shape of the piece is representative of the gravitational pull on celestial bodies like planets, stars and galaxies. And at the center of the piece are two stainless steel, dish shaped found objects with circular holes in the center of them, that are faced back-to-back and welded together along the edges of those circular holes. The opposing congruent shapes of the dish shaped centers represent the gravitational bending of spacetime, while the edge around the center opening represents the “event horizon” of a blackhole that leads to the infinitely small (and I would argue non-dimensional) point of singularity. Anytime that I can represent the contemplation of the Universe and the origins of our existence in my art, I will.

The piece is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications and it measures 84″ tall, 30″ wide and 16″ deep. “There” would make a wonderful addition to any garden or yard and would work equally as well for many commercial and residential indoor applications.

Spacetime

February 4, 2018February 15, 2022

There

Status: In a Private Collection

Application: Indoor/Outdoor

Signed: KR2015

“There” is an abstract sculpture that is comprised of new materials, reclaimed materials and found objects, and it is reflective of my fascination with the origins of our existence. As advanced as we have become in our beliefs, mankind has yet to definitively answer some fairly simple questions like: “Where are we?” and “Where do we come from?” And despite this lack of knowledge, one thing is certain… the answers are out “there” where this piece directs our attention.

Although the piece can be pointed towards any direction of outer space, I designed it to point generally towards Polaris (the “North Star”), the star that has guided mankind in in its earthly endeavors of the northern hemisphere for millennia. And it is the general direction of its orientation that currently point to the depths of our Universe, which mankind is currently striving to understand and navigate.

“There” is made of 1/8″ thick weathering steel, welded together with with 309L stainless steel, using the tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) process, to help accent the seams of the piece. The piece is adorned with stainless steel, “cosmically inspired” found objects that include: a sphere that represents one of the dimensional “particle” structures of the Universe; two discs that represent the typical rotational, gravitational planes upon which celestial bodies move; and finally a shaft with smaller discs along it that progressively reduces its diameter to a focal that points “there” – where the answers are.

Anytime that I can represent the contemplation of the Universe and the origins of our existence in my art, I will.

The piece is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications and it measures 84″ tall, 17″ wide and 40″ deep. “There” would make a wonderful addition to any garden or yard and would work equally as well for many commercial and residential indoor applications.

There

May 8, 2017March 4, 2021

Conundrum

Status: In a Private Collection

Application: Indoor/Outdoor

Signed: KR2016

“Conundrum” is an abstract sculpture that is comprised of new materials, reclaimed materials and found objects, and it is reflective of my fascination with our attempts to understand the universe around us. The piece strives to explore the concept of infinity and the conundrum it often presents in theoretical attempts to understand a three-dimensional universe. To reflect that conundrum, I have turned the infinity symbol from the horizontal plane it is normally represented in, to a vertical plane and I’ve placed it within the confines of a circle, to represent the confines of a three-dimensional existence. The piece sits atop a single-vortex shaped base that sits outside the dimensional confines of the Universe, representing a black hole and the infinitesimally small point of “singularity” that theoretically exists at its center. Calculations that try to find a unified theory between Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, often produce a result of infinity. The stainless steel disc that is located at the point where the outer edge of the Universe joins the center of the base, represents the illumination of “where the answers are” for the “conundrum.” Anytime that I can represent the conundrum of contemplating the Universe and our existence in my art, I will.

With the exception of the infinity sign, Conundrum is primarily constructed of found objects. The outer ring that represents the confines of our dimensional universe is a wagon wheel ring from a horse-drawn carriage from the 1800’s. The single-vortex base, that represents the black hole upon which the dimensional universe rests, is a found solid steel object that is three inches thick. THe stainless steel circle that represents where the answers to the conundrum can be found is a found piece of 1/4″ thick stainless steel, that was round in shape when I found it. The piece was cut in half and polished.

Conundrum is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications and it measures 55″ tall, by 53″ wide and 18″deep. The piece would make a wonderful addition to any garden or yard and would work equally as well for many commercial and residential indoor applications.

Conundrum

August 5, 2015December 3, 2023

Immersion

Status: In a Private Collection

Application: Indoor/Outdoor

Signed: KR2015

“Immersion” is an abstract sculpture that is comprised of new materials, reclaimed materials and found objects, and it is reflective of my fascination with the way in which we struggle with trying to understand our origins and our surroundings.

For quite some time, I have obsessively contemplated the truth about our origins and I’ve found that the interference of certain believes often stands in the way of finding the answers. Every aspect of this piece strives to address that and stimulate a deeper level of thinking about the often conflicting ways in which we strain to interpret facts and reconcile them with our beliefs. Immersion’s almost alien appearance intentionally serves to represent how alien our beliefs can sometimes be from the actual facts.

In all that exists, there is only one truth and at the highest point of Immersion is a single stainless steel disc that serves to represent that truth in its purest, unadulterated form. The disc is connected to a stainless steel bar that descends along Immersion’s top and represents the timeline of our lives. As the “disc of truth” connects with timeline of our lives it becomes deformed and discolored, representing how our beliefs in life begin to distort the facts that surround us. Facts are indisputable but when our knowledge of facts is limited, they are consumed by our beliefs.

As you progress down the timeline of life, a second, larger stainless steel disc begins to become immersed into the timeline of life and the rusty sides of Immersion. The rusty sides of Immersion represents our limited Earthly knowledge and the “immersion” of the now growing disc represents how facts often become “more than what they are” when they are immersed into our beliefs. Descending further down the timeline of life, we find that the stainless steel disc has become much larger and completely immersed and entrenched into our beliefs. The disc has now formed a small hole that represents the narrow view we’ve established about those facts.

As the timeline of life descends to its end, it drops off and descends down a copper face that cascades down with the rusty sides of Immersion and widens slightly until it terminates into a stainless steel base, now stained by the rust of our Earthly beliefs. The descending copper front and rusty sides serve to represent a melding of the facts and beliefs in our lives, as they transition to the “after-life” where beliefs end and only the facts remain … neatly packaged in the confines of a stained, rectangular stainless steel base, that is the stained culmination life. The irony of the “stained stainless steel” is not lost in the design.

Immersion is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications and it measures 68″ tall, by 8″ wide and 13″ deep. Immersion would make a wonderful addition to any garden or yard and would work equally as well for many commercial and residential indoor applications.

Immersion

January 4, 2014January 10, 2016

Gillis Point Lighthouse #2

Status: In a Private Collection, Similar Reproduction Available. (Please contact me for more information.)

Application: Indoor Only

Signed: KR2014

Upon completing Gillis Point Lighthouse #1, commissioned as a birthday present by the family of one of the lighthouse’s land owners, I was commissioned to build a second but smaller piece as a present for one of the other land owners, by his wife. This piece is also made from various gauges of hand-formed and scribed stainless steel sheet metal, flat bar, round bar and angle iron, and it is accented with a roof and light tower that are hand-formed from copper. The piece stands about 9″ tall by 5″ wide and was welded together using the Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding process.

This piece was outfitted with a light and is suitable for indoor applications only.

Gillis Point Lighthouse #2

November 19, 2013January 10, 2016

Gillis Point Lighthouse #1

Status: In a Private Collection, Similar Reproduction Available. (Please contact me for more information.)

Application: Indoor/Outdoor – Indoor Recommended

Signed: KR2013

Here’s my interpretation of the Gillis Point Lighthouse in Nova Scotia as it was displayed at the New York Yacht Club in Newport, RI. I was commissioned to build the piece as a birthday present by the family of one of the lighthouse’s land owners. This piece is made from various gauges of hand-formed and scribed stainless steel sheet metal, flat bar, round bar and angle iron, and it is accented with a roof and light tower that are hand-formed from copper. The piece stands about 18″ tall by 9″ wide and was welded together using the Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding process.

This piece is suitable for both indoor or outdoor applications but would be better suited indoors. The owner plans to mount it on a wooden base and install some creative lighting. Upon its debut at the New York Yacht Club, a second but smaller piece was commissioned as a present for one of the other land owners, by his wife. See Gillis Point Lighthouse #2.

Gillis Point Lighthouse #1

August 22, 2013March 4, 2021

Twisted

Status: In a Private Collection

Application: Indoor/Outdoor – Indoor Recommended

Signed: KR2013

Twisted is a mixed media abstract piece that I built with a piece of oak and some stainless steel tubing. I decided to call “Twisted” both for it’s form and for the struggle I had in naming it. The piece has many wonderful angles and it evoked excitement in me as it came together beautifully. I’ve held on to the oak base for several years, thinking to myself: “One of these days I’m going to use this for something cool!” and I was pleasantly surprised when the “something” became “Twisted.”

I found the oak base in a pile of wood from a long-ago cut tree. The pile was deep in the woods and appeared to have been cut decades ago and left to age… probably because it would’ve been difficult to split. The “twisted” pipes are bent and polished stainless steel pipes that I intertwined together, welded together using the Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding process and mounted to the base.

Twisted is available and suitable for both indoor or outdoor applications but would be better suited indoors. Twisted measures 18″ tall by 18″ wide by 9′ deep and would make a great conversation piece for any home or office. Please contact me if you’re interested.

Twisted

July 18, 2013January 10, 2016

Chimed

Status: In a Private Collection. (Please contact me to commission a similar piece.)

Application: Indoor/Outdoor

“Chimed” is an abstract, interactive wind chime sculpture that is comprised of new materials, reclaimed materials and found objects. The design for the piece began to reveal itself as the found objects and reclaimed materials were gathered together.

The chime is made from a diagonally cut 9″ long piece of reclaimed 5-1/2″ stainless steel pipe, with 16 pieces of reclaimed 1/4″ stainless steel tubing hanging from reclaimed stainless steel washers. The center piece to the chime is a found billet aluminum internal cooling fan from an industrial electric motor, mounted to a piece of reclaimed 1″ stainless steel pipe, hanging from a found stainless steel spring assembly. The chime is mounted to the base and hanging from a found 2″ wide by 3/8″ thick piece of solid stainless steel bar that appears to have been some kind of protective rail or “bumper” in its previous life. The cement filled base is made of Corten steel and welded together using stainless steel, and it is highlighted with a stainless steel circle at the crux of the base.

The modern design of “Chimed” was intended to tie the piece together in a functional and attractive way that is versatile enough to compliment several interior and exterior design styles. It produces a wonderful and subtle chime of casual “tinks” from the hanging stainless steel tubing, complimented by a resonating “ring” from the billet aluminum fan.

The piece is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications and it measures 62″ tall, by 15″ wide by 28″ deep. Chimed would make a wonderful addition to any garden or yard and would work equally as well for many commercial and residential indoor applications.

Time with the Art – A short video of “Chimed”

“Chimed”

June 19, 2013March 4, 2021

Solem Visum

Status: In a Private Collection

Application: Indoor/Outdoor

Signed: KR2013

“Solem Visum” or “Sun View” is an abstract sculpture that is comprised of new materials, reclaimed materials and found objects. The piece is designed to represent two different sun views and it is up to the observer to decide whether-or-not they are sunrises or a sunsets.

The sun view is framed out with the outer steel ring from the wagon wheel of a mid-1800’s horse-draw doctor’s carriage and the water and waves are made from reclaimed 1/8″ stainless steel plating. The sun is a found stainless steel drain cover, cut in half and welded face-to-face and its reflection is ground into the stainless steel “water.” The rays of the sun are 1/4″ stainless steel rods extending out to the steel ring, and the land and the cement filled base are made of Corten steel and welded together using stainless steel.

The piece is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications and it measures 57″ tall, by 39″ wide by 11-1/2″ deep. Solem Visum would make a wonderful addition to any garden or yard and would work equally as well for many commercial and residential indoor applications.

Solem Visum

June 19, 2013February 4, 2018

Singularity

Status: In a Private Collection. (Please contact me to commission a similar piece.)

Application: Indoor/Outdoor

Signed: KR2013

“Singularity” is a kinetic abstract sculpture that is comprised of new materials, reclaimed materials and found objects, and it is reflective of my fascination with the origins of our existence. The “singularity” is, among other things, believed to be the point from which the Universe was created and it is the theoretical center of a black hole where, dimension and spacetime theoretically breakdown and become infinite. My fascination with the origins of our existence is constant and I enjoy any time that I can represent the conundrum of contemplating the Universe.

Singularity is designed to represent some of the basic atomic structures of our existence, and uses found objects from still-developing technologies to represent this basic, yet still not fully understood structure, of our existence. To represent the the gravitational orbits that hold matter together, I used the outer steel bands from a mid-1800’s horse-draw doctor’s carriage. I found it fitting that this old mode of transportation, once used for thousands of years, was quickly outdated by the automobile, as well as the doctor it once carried who practiced medicine that is now viewed as barbaric. The steel bands come together at the bottom and the top with what I believe are stainless steel nozzles, that appear to be from an oil-fired power plant (a technology whose days are numbered). At the “atomic center” of the piece is a stainless steel ball resting atop a stainless steel rod. The ball was once used as a fluid level float for a pump system, until it was replaced by electronic sensors.

From the top of the stainless steel ball, through hole at the center of the top nozzle, conical dimensional lines can be drawn that eventually coming to a point of non-dimensional, “singularity.”

The upper portion of the piece rotates on a front wheel bearing assembly from an SUV, yet another mode of transportation whose days are numbered, and the piece rests atop a cement-filled based made of Corten steel and stainless steel, to ensure durability and stability for decades to come.

The piece is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications and it measures 65″ tall, by 39″ wide and deep. Singularity would make a wonderful addition to any garden or yard and would work equally as well for many commercial and residential indoor applications.