WTC

WTC is the eighth of a series of sculptures referred to as "Chimneys".

The series originated about a year before the attack of September 11, but the image naturally fitted into the series.

The sculpture is more about architecture than it is about terrorism. The towers actually appear to be falling, but this was not the original concept. Ambiguity is one of the beautiful things about sculpture. The way the towers slope is actually a play on reverse perspective. If you look up an object, it appears smaller at the top. Because you are looking down on the sculptor, it would appear narrower at the base. What I am aiming at is an inversion, where what is perceived is the total opposite of what is expected.
The choice of diamond plate steel for the walls was partly accidental. I had intended to use diamond plate on the top, and smooth plate for the walls of the tower. However, because I ran out of steel in the studio ( a rare occurrence ), I decided to use diamond plate for the outer walls ( running out of it too ). This means that any water running down the outside walls will actually resemble tears.
The diamond plate on the top has an uneasy ambiguity. You associate diamond plate with something on which you walk. After September 11, the observation deck of the WTC, was at ground level - this association was intentional.
The saddest ambiguity is that the color of steel ( iron red ) is also the color of blood ( which gets its color from iron ).
This piece has taken a lot of time and energy to develop. There may be one or two more sculptures in the series, but my feeling at the moment is that I'd really like to just do some play sculpture, which I haven't done in ages. A recent article in Apollo magazine stated that cubist sculpture was unsuccessful because it could not address the concerns of cubist painting, esp transparency and ambiguity of vision. I think this is wrong, and the concept is a good starting point for a series of sculptures. ( It is not unusual for a article like this to trigger a series of works. A statement by Edward Tufte that art could not address a changing image has been a major trigger for the Chimneys series. What Tufte says art cannot address is common in art and is called Narrative or Serialization. )