Destroy to Create?

[evaldart]

It wouldn't be the first time but I'm cosidering dismantling a substantial piece to salvage parts of it that may work well in a couple of upcoming pieces. It has been exhibited only once, no one has ever shown interest in owning it, thus it languishes, bloated by the space I have been feeding it for years. It may be a better use of space and those materials if it were sacraficed. But in the past, a few sculptures that I had marked for death have spontaneously attracted some successes and even sold. So again I'm torn. Soilent Green or no? (of couse the pieces I have loaded into dumpsters without a second thought is another thread altogether)
How have you all faced this?

(the piece is "Manwich" on evaldart.com)

[cmustard]

I've done this several times myself, taken old pieces to make something new. It really is a torn feeling.

In almost every case that feeling passed...because I liked the new version so much better. It's almost like clearing out the clutter....a mental cleanzing.

There are some pieces I would'nt even consider doing this to. Maybe that's the key... if you would consider it in the first place?

I will say this, there have been pieces I wanted to reuse, decided not to, ended up showing them again and was glad that I didn't destroy them. I guess it's a matter of which pull is stronger, clean it up, take a good look at and decide if it's time has come.

[Tired Iron]

Ol' Manwich had two effects on me, first it reminded me of the hot-dog cart I bought this past Spring in hopes of generating income thru the noon hour , which would give me time to sculpt (and do all the necessary stuff like eat and mow yard etc.) That didn't quite work out as it was a lot more time involved than I thought. Secondly I viewed your website a few weeks ago and the second effect was that this was my least favorite piece of yours. I too have pieces that don't really have the spark when finished as the flame that burned while I was creating them. Can't quite figure that out yet , but it happens. There are two like that out in my work area that are gonna be cannibalized or rearranged in some way. So I say GO FOR IT!! And now a temptation for you to show you what it ( the cost of living) is like up here. Mind you I am 7-8 hours from NYC but only an hour from Ottowa , Canada's capital. Look at this will you... http://realestate.yahoo.com/New_York/Lisbon/Homes_for_sale/6d1ab031570ebc67a6a4ecc75b1b2438 Don't freak out, and remember this is only the asking price, I'm sure they will take less. This is a quarter mile from me.

[evaldart]

If it were a painting I'd stack it against the wall and not think about it, even if it were a small sculpture I'd let it live in the pile, but 1500 pounds is enough for a couple of new major pieces. And the ones you haven't done yet are always more exciting than the ones layin around. But theres no gaurantee that they will be any better. Also, Scrap is damn expensive these days (as discussed in the other thread).
And then there is the issue of the new pieces. Are they best served by the utilization of parts that have already been afflicted by creative decisions? Maybe they deserve fresh material, not new but "fresh". The new ideas manifested in a genetically correct manner - free of incestual contamination.

Thats some spread o land, Tirediron (a bargain if you ask me). If I had a hundred thousand layin around I'd make that my winter home and we could be nieghbors. Fill that thirty acres up with metal stinkers until the day I die.

[dondougan]

" . . . dismantling a substantial piece to salvage parts of it that may work well . . . "

and

" . . . new pieces. Are they best served by the utilization of parts that have already been afflicted by creative decisions?"

I found that often in the rush to prep and finish stuff for an upcoming exhibit that upon actually seeing it 'in-public' as it were I feel a nagging sensation that it is incomplete. I would revisit the piece, modifying and changing it and always ending up with a better version — and required me to grind out the area(s) where the piece was signed because the date was wrong or visually inappropriate in the new version. This happened often enough that I stopped signing most of my works until either the gallery asked for it, or until the piece sold. Some of these revisited works were modified three or four times —usually between exhibitions they were shown in — over a period of years.

Since I keep track of all my work on a database on the computer, when I revisit a piece it becomes a new entry and the old entry is listed as "Reworked" or "Destroyed" depending on how far I take the reworking.

Several times I have used what a supporting design elements in the original piece and they have become the primary focal-point of the design in the revisited work. Often removed design elements of the reworked pieces are discarded and put back 'on-the-shelf' to be re-used as needed in future as-yet un-conceived works. Sometimes they are 'just-the-thing' when a few years later a piece is being constructed. Because the database allows me to keep track of all these odds'n'ends (and work-in-progress elements begun but incomplete) the associated costs and labor are there when I finally do have a use for them so making it easier to determine value when pricing the final work.

I use the process of re-working elements as just another creative tool in my arsenal of techniques. If you tear down your house piece-by-piece you don't just throw it all away do you? You save the re-usable pieces as simply additional raw material for the new house you build. Why waste all that labor I never got paid for anyway?

[Blake]

Create to destroy and by destroying we create.
The photographs posted below document a process that I use to create a series of sculptures that I call my Fragments Collection.

Here is a series of photographs describing the process. This was a piece that a student had left me and I wanted to be able to document the process of destruction.

I used this same process to destroy a clay piece that has been completed with the exception of the portrait, hands and feet, which I only sketch in.

[Blake]

These works speak of the destructive nature of man, our ability to self-destruct and our capacity to destroy others not only as individuals but also as whole societies, sects and factions.
These works were originally influenced by archaeological remnants of past civilizations created through the continuous cycle of wars that make up man’s history.
I used this same process to destroy a clay piece that has been completed with the exception of the portrait, hands and feet, which I only sketch in.

[Blake]

Here is a Fragment in plaster

[Blake]

Here is a finished Fragment in Bronze

[evaldart]

Very nice Blake. You have made those pieces so much more than what they were as just figurative units, well handed too. How random or planned is the breakage? How big are they?

[Blake]

The figures are one-quarter life size.
I let the piece dry and the clay shrinks naturally, I do take a small wooden mallet to the figure and try not to end up with a pile of dust. Most times I am smart enough to stop before I have completely ruined the work, but not always.
I know that my idea of de-construction is not the answer one would expect to your question, but perhaps you could try to de-construct your piece with the intention of creating a different work in order to discover something new from the procedure.
Keep pushing the envelope
Blake

[Aaron Schroeder]

Do some good documentation, perhaps a video walk around for that 360 view web page Picture Cloud and write yourself a fancy receipt that it's finally sold, dismantal, then delete your memories of the dismantaling process. Spook yourself with a stack of material that you can't remember getting. This process works great, it'll make you feel successful, it eliminates internal conflict and it will validate your uncertain belief in material bestowing art fairies.

Finally checked out your web page, engageing work, really responded to the paintings, liked the one of the utility pole.

Blake, really like the bronze and this path of investigation.

[evaldart]

Gettin real close to goin after the Manwich with my new emergency cutter. Backed the truck into it today and took out a tail-light. And a new piece I'm working on is crying for a base - theres 128 sq feet of diamondplate in the manwich. Many nice new attractive bases in there without forcing any of its pillaged aesthetics into the meat of the new pieces.

[Tired Iron]

Thanks for the evening chuckle. :)

[Blake]

Evaldart
Go for it, and in de-constructing Manwich you might be able to come up with a base for your other work. Sorry about the tail light perhaps Manwich is trying to provoke you.

I think that it is very important to push things as far as you can, take a risk. I was working on a fragment today, I had let the clay dry and I started chipping away at the head as I wanted to leave some part of the portrait, I took a risk and hit it hard…… luck was on my side and although I lost more of the head than I would have liked the result was better than I could have wished for. Now there have been times when I was not so lucky, but I will still take the risk, what do I have to loose? I will never do it a second time as poorly as I did it the first.

Aaron
Thank you I am very much enjoying this work as well and I think that you have described it exactly, it is a path of investigation. This is a process not an event

Good luck evaldart what do you stand to loose?
Blake

[Merlion]

Create to destroy and by destroying we create.
The photographs posted below document a process that I use to create a series of sculptures that I call my Fragments Collection.

Here is a series of photographs describing the process. This was a piece that a student had left me and I wanted to be able to document the process of destruction.

I used this same process to destroy a clay piece that has been completed with the exception of the portrait, hands and feet, which I only sketch in.
Blake, you may find this site interesting.

The beauty and brutality of sculptor Mark Prent’s silicone simulacra (http://www.montrealmirror.com/2007/030107/visualarts.html)

....A rope-bound amputee, butchered torsos in a meat locker, horrific fusions of man and animal—all of them disturbingly real in detail and scale, and moulded from the body of the artist himself. Through the ’70s and into the ’80s, the Polish-born Canadian Prent was a lightning rod for disgust from some quarters, deep admiration from others.....

[evaldart]

Wow. Many sculptors of leotard-snapping dancers will run screaming away from the reality and intensity of this guys bodycasts. This is, to me, Art at a very high level. Challenging, undeniable in a brouhaha of personal process; a "wall of sound" in a relatively quiet world of figuration. Thanks Merlion. Very inspirational.

[desertrock]

Art is a business, and you have to detach (somewhat) from your work once it's out for sale.
I have a few pieces that have come back from the gallery because they were either redundant forms of my new work or they didn't sell (yet).
I have brought one piece home, then have a buyer notify me to inquire about that piece, resulting in a sale. I've also been tempted to rework stone pieces because they didn't meet my raised standards for workmanship. I've yet to rework anything. I've more or less gotten to the place where I don't feel a loss when a piece I really liked went out the door or sold.
Since there are so many components to your piece, I'd say tear it down, use the parts for other pieces. Maybe first post it on your website at a reduced price. The last option could be to donate it somewhere if you can't bear destroying it. I like the word dismantle better.

mark

[evaldart]

Thanks Desertrock, I have tried to find a "home" for it. No luck.
Fact is, it will save me money and time on at least the next three large pieces that I have planned. So its pretty much decided. It will be "dismantled" and the diamondplate blocks will immediately be cut and refabricated into new bases; the two large sycamore trunks might go for some carving, the forged 2" bars and the solid rubber will end up in another piece in that particular series. So as per Murphy's law someone will want to buy it shortly thereafter.
I'm getting kinda excited about it all. Other 1000 pound freeloaders on the lawn (and there are some more) are going to be getting nervous.

[Blake]

It sounds really exciting evaldart, this is the type of decision that I find inspiring, now that you have made up your mind the chosen creative direction becomes a new process.
Are you going to try to keep Manwich in a new form or is he toast?
You might de-construct him and rediscover a new piece.
Keep us informed of his fate.
Blake

[evaldart]

Oh, he's toast Blake. With a capital T.