Do you consider metal cutouts 'sculpture'?

[wasabi]

It appears the plasma cutter has created more "cutout" sculptors than there are customers. Just wondering if a one dimensional sheetmetal cutout is considered sculpture in your book. (Not attempting to define 'sculpture' in this thread - just if cutouts fit your own definition of sculpture).

I'll start - gawd no.

[G. Murdoch]

Wasabi,

Greetings, I have noticed a proliferation of metal cutout "sculpture" in recent years, most of it crap. However my friend Mark has been busy making metal cutout sculpture on a small scale (pendants & such) for a while now, and achieving a fantastic visual effect by layering. For example, he showed me a piece last week that was composed of three circles about 3" diameter. Each layer was composed of various elements of a forest scene (grass, shrubs, mushrooms, trees, etc.) The 3 circles were then layered, seperated by perhaps 1/8". Thus achieving depth as the eye traveled back into the 3rd dimension. He doesn't have the means or space for a plasma cutter, but I can imagine some wonderful things being created on a larger scale.

Graham

[wasabi]

That wouldn't fit my description of one-dimensional cutout. I would like to see your friends work now though!

[fritchie]

Wasabi - Not sure just what you mean by "one-dimensional cutout". Many people who use plasma (or other) cutters also bend, roll, or fold parts of the piece to generate wider effects.

Even if it's perfectly flat, I see the possibilities of interest, because you always can look through the piece (or beside it) and pick up the distant environment. Sculpture in a way is any artificial work that provokes 3D thinking.

[GaryR52]

Although I'm not a metal sculptor, I have no problem with "cut-out" sculpture. In fact, some of it is quite good, despite the relative simplicity of the technique and, where that's concerned, I don't believe it is the relative difficulty of the technique that makes it either "sculpture" or "art." Personally, I find non-objective shapes more interesting than the trite cutouts that depict recognizable objects. But, that's just my preference. As for whether it's sculpture or not, I would say it certainly is. It is, at least, the result of an actively creative process, which is more than I can say for Jeff Koons' vacuum cleaners. ;)

Gary

[Merlion]

Sculpture in a way is any artificial work that provokes 3D thinking.

This is a very good definition of sculptures, Fritchie. I like it.

By the way, Washibi, I think you mean 'two dimensional' rather than 'one dimensional'. A line is one dimensional. A flat sheet is two dimensional. And a solid is three dimensional.

[ironman]

Hi, Tom Wesselman did some wonderful laser cut aluminum pieces that are essentially line drawings. They are painted, hang on the wall and are definitely art.
Of course there is a lot of crap out there, whether it be cutouts or 3d stuff but in the right hands anything can be made into art.
Have a nice day,
Jeff

[daaub]

Even if it's perfectly flat, I see the possibilities of interest, because you always can look through the piece (or beside it) and pick up the distant environment. Sculpture in a way is any artificial work that provokes 3D thinking.

I have no problems with cut out metal sculpture. Every medium will have an abundance of works that do not fit one's standards of "great art".
However, I do not think it is possible for any sculpture to be labeled "one-dimensional". Even a simple line sculpture is at the least a two-dimensional work. Usually these works are sculpture in the round and thus three-dimensional, even if it is flat metal. Also, through its location as Fritchie mentions, it becomes an instillation and address its surroundings into the work whether the viewer consciously acknowledges it or not.

[obseq]

It appears the plasma cutter has created more "cutout" sculptors than there are customers. Just wondering if a one dimensional sheetmetal cutout is considered sculpture in your book. (Not attempting to define 'sculpture' in this thread - just if cutouts fit your own definition of sculpture).

I'll start - gawd no.


It's difficult to get the image of those metal cut-out coyote lawn-ornaments everso prevalent in the Southwest. ;)

In all seriousness, I'm really not sure if you're more focused on the process, quickly expedited by plasma-cutter, or the final product of a one-dimensional cut-out.

[tevj]

It appears the plasma cutter has created more "cutout" sculptors than there are customers. Just wondering if a one dimensional sheetmetal cutout is considered sculpture in your book. (Not attempting to define 'sculpture' in this thread - just if cutouts fit your own definition of sculpture).

I'll start - gawd no.

i'm with you wasabi!!...more like signage than sculpture.

[kathleenfen]

Sculpture in a way is any artificial work that provokes 3D thinking.

I'd like to add a quote from someone I knew years ago that I think goes along the same lines....

"Art is artifice. Art is that which is not real." :D

As to whether metal cutouts are sculpture; I really think that depends on what one does with the creation process in utilizing that way of working. After all, anything can be crap..depends on how it's approached, not the specific materials/process.

Kathleen

[GaryR52]

...After all, anything can be crap..depends on how it's approached, not the specific materials/process.

Kathleen

Quite true. It isn't the medium that makes it art, it's how the medium is used.


Gary

[sculptor]

Ode to silhouette "sculpture"

Long ago and far away
When I was a younger and bolder man
and just a bit more "in your face"
when critiqueing art
and fervently adhered to the concepts inherent in "disegno"

I cut out several of the capital letter Q
painted with varying shades of black (and pearl and green) and blue
and stacked them in a helter skelter pile

And titled it "Ode to silhouette art"
when asked about the piece
I responded
"Thats my ode to silhouette art, it's just a few Qs"

I didn't win the "miss congeniality" award

We occasionally discuss the difference between art and craft
Perhaps, this would be a good place to do it again.

sculptor (http://www.mindspring.com/~mandali/id2.html)

hard work, coupled with some talent can lead to virtuosity

[oddist]

What about a 2 inch thick plate of steel leaning against a wall????? :confused:

[sculptor]

What about a 2 inch thick plate of steel leaning against a wall????? :confused:

I saw one of those at a construction site, with rivulets of rust from a recent rain.

¿Whodathunk that that lazy slovenly inconsiderate ironworker jerk was really an artist?

Certainly not me.

[tevj]

actually that piece sounds kinda cool, and has some integrity..it is those bloody 'prissy' laser cut pieces of "wank" that get on my nerves!!

[fused]

The cutout silouette forms predate the common use of a plasma cutter and the acetylene torch cut edges were much "prettier." I know a sculptor who used to make a living with howling coyotes at $100 a foot. He was not aesthetically or creatively fullfilled,
but his bills were always paid on time.

A large cutout (http://www.mcasd.org/collection/permcol/artists/borofsky.html) fabricated in multiples that I've seen in many locations, probably priced way beyond $100 a foot.

[tevj]

so...that's $400 a coyote huh?!!!....you would definitely avoid 3 legged ones!..they would really mess up your cash flow!

[FireBeach]

This is a very good definition of sculptures, Fritchie. I like it.

By the way, Washibi, I think you mean 'two dimensional' rather than 'one dimensional'. A line is one dimensional. A flat sheet is two dimensional. And a solid is three dimensional.

not to be picky but even a line is two demensional. It has length and width. i dont think there is a one dimensional object.

[Carvnmarble]

Yes I do, - I don't choose them as a favorite but "Calder" made some intresting mobile forms using the flat material idea. I prefer carving stone. - K

[oddist]

Here are some of my lazy day cut-outs. !/2 inch thick steel, polished with paste wax.

On the left is "Expecting."

On the right is "Jones, Slick, and Allen" , better known as "The Three Graces."

They may only be 12 - 18 inches tall but I picture them really big out in a field....

[entwisjj]

I've actually been building abstract neo-constructivist figures out of plasma-cut steel plates, concrete, and reinforcing rod. the cut-outs are more of the remaining material once a fabrication shop burns out their needed parts. Some of the material i gather is so impressive as is, i've wanted to just put it on a pedestal alone.

this is my first post on here, I'm a sculptor in graduate school and thought this might be a good place to see whats happening-