New Sketches for Wall Sculptures

I rarely show anyone sketches or working drawings for sculptures.  If you happen to drop by the studio and see the materials scattered about, that’s fine.  In fact, feel free to page through the stacks of drawings on the counter as well.  Knock yourself out, you might find something interesting. It’s not for any ideological reasoning, it’s just that I don’t consider sketches finished works.  For me, they are a means to an end.

My casual approach to them can even catch people off guard.  While beginning a new sculpture, I’ll often lay the pattern/drawing on the floor to make things easier.  This means they get walked on, covered in grinding dust and and even burned by torch spatter or hot steel.  I think they look quite interesting by the end.  But when I suggest visitors should feel free to walk over them as well, they rarely do.  I guess I take it as a compliment – a sign that others consider them to have a value above and beyond a mere sculptural means.

This is all a long-way-round of saying I recently worked up a few drawings for a possible commission of a new indoor wall sculpture, along the lines of Concurrence.

Following are two of the drawings I really liked. You can see from the full page image, I started with some general line drawings, trying to work out visually a vague idea in my mind.  Some might consider these “doodles,” but that implies a level of distraction that doesn’t apply.

I like to work directly in ink and “erase” with correction tape. I’ve worked this way for so long I don’t give it a second thought, though I admit it does seem a bit absurd. Why not use pencil and an eraser? Probably a combination of liking the definitiveness of ink and disliking the smudged quality of graphite when continually erased.

After much re-working, I have two designs I quite like.  I see these completed around 5′ tall, give or take.  Neither of these ended up being quite right for the client, so we’ve moved on to some other drawings.  But I’m quite fond of both of them.  In fact, I have a spot of wall next to my front door that would be perfect for one… as soon as I decide which is my favorite.