About Pinnacled Berg a23

PINNACLED BERG a23 is the first in what will be a continuing series of sculptures inspired by icebergs. As an artist for whom mountains are a primary inspiration, it is only natural that icebergs have always been there right beside them, silently speaking to me. One of the primary differences between them as a source of inspiration, is that I spend many days each year in the alpine ecosystems of large mountains, experiencing the wonders and intricacies of mountains firsthand. My experiences with icebergs; however, have been through photographs and videos. That is something I hope to change some day.

As a 3D artist who plays with form and shadow, icebergs hold a deep fascination for me. Their honest, purity of form is perhaps unrivaled. Continually replenished and everchanging, their inspirational variety is nearly endless. They are obedient servants of light, be it moonlight or sunlight, cradling countless everchanging shadows. Despite their perceived stillness, they move, alone, or in a slow dance with others. Perhaps what intrigues me most is that they are in essence small, self-contained worlds; places where one’s mind can get lost - and mine does. I could go on and on about them, about their formation, about how a great portion of their geometry is hidden beneath a plane of water, about how they occasionally flip over… But this is not wiki article.

The reality that there may be a day when icebergs can no longer be found is haunting and makes me want to interpret them in my own way. If my Bergs are seen in a gallery or a collector’s home, they may make someone think about what is threatening them. Perhaps that will do some small amount of good. In creating my Bergs, I conjure the silhouettes of an imagined iceberg as seen from slightly different angles and create those as individual flat planes of metal. I then draw in them patterns of holes that mimic the imagined play of light, or energy across the Berg’s surfaces. Holes are many things to me; among that diversity they are physical metaphors for life and activity and mystery. Secret things take place in and are revealed through holes. They both hide from and seek the light, and leave a legacy of shadow, a transient twin that may betray their stillness. The metal hole filled planes are then shaped and combined to form the Bergs. I do not know exactly what a Berg will look like when I begin, it is a function of how the individual pieces roll according to my mood at the time. Their shapes are as fluid in my mind and hands as an iceberg’s form is in reality. In the end, the pieces of a Berg can be arranged differently and rearranged, they can change much like an actual iceberg.