Iron Mountain II

Organized by the China Sculpture Institute, I was one of two American sculptors invited to join 33 international sculptors participating in the 5th China, Wuhu Liu Kaiqu, International Sculpture Exhibition in 2016. The sculpture, Iron Mountain, was selected by the Art Committee to be fabricated on a monumental scale at the Yidongyuan Sculpture Production Center in Beijing, China in late 2015. ​

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On numerous occasions over the past two decades, I have worked with industrial firms to build my sculptures on a monumental scale.  As a result I have experienced the process of working with others as they have fabricated my work for major commissions. With this experience I have been able to articulate my aesthetic concerns about the subtleties of joints, connectors and spatial relationships to the fabricators throughout the build.  

 

Using the Machinist Studies as pattern models, I have been able to provide verifiable hard dimensions of the shapes, connections and overall composition for the large scale sculptures, in the process achieving the same level of intensity and attention to details from the workers as when I was fabricating my artwork with cutting torch and welding rods. 

 

Even with the language differences and the complexity of the process by providing a Machinist Study of Iron Mountain as a working model along with countless e-mails and late night international phone calls, I was able to direct the fabrication of the sculpture, Iron Mountain, to the workers at the Beijing Production Center with similar results. Completed in 2016 and on display along with sculptures of the 35 international sculptors participating in the 2016 exhibition, Iron Mountain was selected to receive the “Special Honor Award” for the 2016 exhibition.

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One of the largest sculptures in this year’s exhibition, weighing 6 tons and standing 15 ft. tall by 20 ft. long by 14 ft. wide, the Cor-ten steel sculpture, Iron Mountain, was selected to remain in the permanent collection of the Wuhu Sculpture Park in Wuhu, China.

 

The Wuhu Municipal government has created “A Century of Sculpture” plan in order to make Wuhu a city of “sculptural landscape”. Wuhu is an important birthplace of culture of Southern Anhui Province.  Rapidly becoming the “World’s Largest Sculpture Park”, there are more than 160 large outdoor sculptures on permanent display at the park. 

 

Inspired by the powerful machinery employed to mine the bounty of earth, the title Iron Mountain makes reference to the city of Wuhu’s history as a major Chinese commercial trade center exporting iron ore.