Aragscut

by awerby

Sculpture

I'm very enthusiastic about the use of digital technology in sculpture, and have retooled my sculpture process to take advantage of some of the things it makes possible. I started out by taking molds of natural objects, casting them in wax, and assembling composite objects which were then remolded and cast in various materials. This style I dubbed "Juxtamorphic" from Latin and Greek words meaning (literally) "close forms". Now I do essentially the same thing by digitizing natural forms and textures with 3d scanners, combining them in the computer using haptic modeling tools, and output them with computer-controlled milling machines. This gives me greater freedom in merging forms, as scale is no longer an issue, and forms can be modified more easily. This method of working also allows me to produce maquettes for presentation that exactly resemble the final product, something that wasn't possible with my earlier technique, which always was tied to full-sized objects. While this technology, like most new ways of doing things, can be used to perform tasks like the enlargement of small models to monumental size more efficiently, what excites me more is the possibility of doing things that couldn't be done at all before. That, for me, is where the untapped potential of these new tools is to be discovered. The two wood carvings in this exhibition were produced by scanning natural objects like the "Buddha's hand" citron, mineral specimens (aragonite and calcite), human "bite molds", and fossil turtle scutes. These were scaled, mirrored, arrayed, merged, and arranged in a 3d computer modeling environment then carved on a 4-axis CNC (Computer-Numerically Controlled) milling machine. They were both carved in 2009, and stand as exemplars of the latest developments in Juxtamorphic sculpture, in which carving has become functionally equivalent to casting, and interchangeable with it, and assemblage art is realized by subtractive means.