The Material
For sculptural purposes, stainless steel cable is a material medium with particular characteristics. I use 3/16, 1/4, and 1/2 inch diameter, seven strand cable [straight core strand surrounded by six spiraling strands]. The individual strands are themselves just smaller cables with multiple threads, which themselves can be deconstructed to participate in the sculpture at a different level of scale. Stainless steel cable is durable, tough and resilient with a very fixed “memory;” so, while in its larger diameters and lengths it is relatively heavy, expensive and cumbersome, it nevertheless invites exploration allowing multiple do, undo and redo without the risk of having to accept “mistakes.”
The Process
After creating models in much more manageable 1/16 inch stainless cable, I have been working since 2018 in 3/16, 1/4, and 1/2 half inch diameter cable to fashion my current TAB sculptures. The finished pieces only resemble the models as there are many adjustments and refinements that emerge in the transition. Creating the model is where much of the time is spent, especially if I am exploring a new design. In developing the model, I discover the cable components needed and the nature of the manipulation required.
There are likely to be several modeling attempts involved before a satisfactory form emerges. Sometimes the design idea for the model just does not work for one reason or another and has to be abandoned. More often there are a series of adjustments that arise in the manipulation process or that are suggested in my interspersed moments of “musing.” Some ideas and adjustments are responses to mechanical/tactile based input; some emerge from technical “rational thinking;” some arise after employing focused kinetic visual thinking; and some arise full blown as purely intuitive inspirations. All mental processes are involved and they tend to weave in and out of one another.
With a completed model, I then convert the length of cable used in the model to the corresponding length required in the larger diameter cable. I then cut the length or lengths of cable needed from my stock of cable on reels. Next I deconstruct the cable into the needed separate spiral strand sections, removing the core straight cable. Constructing the cable sculpture follows in general the process discovered in developing the model, but with multiple lengths of cable between 30 and 50 feet long, there is a good deal of effort spent in just moving the cable around in and out of connections. My wife, Inger, helps me greatly in this manipulation process – especially with the larger 1/2″ cable material. Since I am a bit of a perfectionist, getting it “right” can require several tries and amount to quite a struggle over multiple hours and sometimes days. Finishing off the piece requires coming up with a way to satisfactorily “resolve” the cable ends. Once determined, I cut the ends to fit and then cover and fix them in place with short pieces of thin wall stainless steel tubing flared slightly at one end to accept the trimmed cable. Sometimes the cable ends are deconstructed to different degrees to contribute to the design.
Meaning/Intent
Having spent my career as a social scientist researching and teaching at the graduate level in the area of the traditional arts and ritual, I am reluctant to assign meaning to any work of art, especially any singular meaning. The artist may or may not have any recognized intent; and the observers/participants bring all of their individual perspectives, cultural sensitivities, personal experiences, and emotions to the engagement with any specific work of art or artistic interaction. So, meaning in art is inherently diverse, and anyone who claims to know what any work of art means is really just exposing themselves and their limited perspective – theoretical, cultural or personal. I can only explore here what in general I find thematic in my sculpture – perhaps illuminating myself, my perspective, and to some degree my “intent.” And even as a trained observer with years of experience assessing art and its function in culture, I claim that I am aware of only a portion of what my intent may be! Observers coming to my sculptures may absorb all, some or none of my intent. And they may enjoy or reject my sculptures for “reasons” related to my intent or entirely separate from this intent. The only reasonable desire an artist can hope for is that observers of his or her art will make the effort to actually engage rather than just “look,” and then take something of value, something productive, away from their experience with the art work.
So, here is what I see as Thematic in my TAB sculptures:
In nature there are no straight lines, only curves. In selecting stainless steel cable, I am working with material that is round in every aspect but which interestingly can be arranged to manifest the straight line that is so revered in western culture. Stainless steel cable is also a highly ordered and consistent material that is composed of spiral strands that are identical, interchangeable,and inter-weavable [with these strands themselves composed of spiral threads equally identical, interchangeable, and inter-weavable]. So, I begin with this round, rather complex, layered and highly ordered but very flexible medium – capable of virtually an infinite number of variant combinations. In disassembling this array of cable components to different degrees, I accept the risk of disorder and the task of recombining these components to achieve what I regard as an aesthetically satisfactory result. Sometimes this result is very regular, symmetrical and formally ordered in nearly all respects. Sometimes this result is a combination of ordered components with more free form elements. And sometimes this result is more free form composed of mostly irregular elements. But in all cases, there are a limited number of ways the spiral strands and threads can be combined to form connections [joints] that will “support” structure, which is essential whether the apparent sculptural result is more ordered or free. So, in my sculpture there is always an underlying order even in those instances where there appears to be mostly free form and irregularity.
As it turns out, and without any originating plan along this line, Phase One of TAB sculptures [#1 – #10] – all in larger diameter 1/2 inch cable emerged in a series: Stage 1 sculptures [#1, #2, #3] explore formal and highly ordered primary forms – triangle, square, pentagon. Stage 2 sculptures [#4, #5, #6] in the series explore freer, less regularly ordered shapes as contained within an ordered, surrounding form. Stage 3 sculptures [#7, #8] present smaller ordered forms contained within a dominant surrounding free form array. Stage 4 sculpture [#9] releases most order and formality and explores more free expression as well as the emergence of “lesser” forms within the dominant form. Sculpture #10 returns to Stage 1 order. My sculptures never reach the representation of total disorder; that would be a pile of scrambled cable and cable components. I accept that to offer at least a nominal communication, sculpture must rely on a rudimentary level of structure/order/formality. As an artist, I am not willing to go in sculpture to the equivalent of the blank canvas in graphic art.
Phase Two TAB sculptures [#11 – #20], Phase Three sculptures [#21 – #29], and Phase Four sculptures [#30 – #51] continue the order-disorder, formal-informal dynamic but focus more on exploring different forms using different shapes and sizes of cable. Some of these sculptures are more figurative [#16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 36, 39, 40, 45, 46, 47] and some are more representational [#17, 21, 22, 32, 33, 34, 42]. Several of these sculptures explore emergent forms within informal shapes [#11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 49] and some display the final dissolution of form – the spray of cable threads [#6, 11, 24, 30, 38, 42, 48].
So, at several levels, I am exploring different forms and sizes of cable material while working within the fundamental dynamic of order and disorder, control and chaos, constraint and freedom. The challenge for me is to create sculptural works that address/explore these forms and this dynamic in an effective, constructive and balanced manner. And, I suggest, this challenge for me in my TAB sculptures mirrors the same fundamental challenge we all face in our selves, our lives, our societies, and our cultures. To survive and flourish, we humans must be open to change in many different realms – accept the challenge of potential disorder/uncertainty together with the exhilaration of freedom. At the same time, we must respect the certainty and security of the existing status quo without suffering stagnation and complacency. Ultimately TAB Sculpture explores this dynamic challenge – to the degree I am aware of my “intent.”