2nd in the Series

In my last post I showed an image of an obleisk-shaped sculpture. Here's the second in that series. The concrete is made with white Portland cement. The dragonfly wings that hang in the open spaces are photo-etched brass, but left in the acid long enough that the etch goes right through. The image of the wings came from a macro photo of a blue darner's dragonfly wings (road-killed) that I manipulated so that they are about 7" long. The brass is patinated black. Again, I appplied gold leaf to all the interior spaces to reflect light.

Wing Obelisk. Concrete, brass, gold leaf. 22" tall. 2009. Copyright Andrew Goss.

New sculptures

In preparation for a small show at Harbinger Gallery in Waterloo, ON, I've just completed two concrete sculptures based on an obelisk shape. They are about 22" high, and cast with the same molding process–which is basically 1X6's, some old panelling, nails and styrofoam. The foam (to make the negative spaces) was cut on an electric jigsaw and put together with double-sided tape. Then it was cast in place in the wooden mold, removing it later by breaking it apart and pulling out the pieces. The wider base was cast around the vertical form a couple of days later.

The concrete is similar to a mortar mix: sand to cement 2:1, metakaolin (about 8% by weight to the cement), PVA fibers, stone dust, water reducer, black pigment. Over a few days I sanded the piece, filled in holes, resanded, and finally added a very fine skim coat which was wet sanded. Gold leaf was applied to all the interior surfaces to reflect light on to the bone form, which was cast with a mix of white Portland cement and light coloured sand. The mold for this was made from a two-part silicone putty that I wrote about in an earlier blog. The original bone from which the copy was made, is the long wing bone from a seagull.

The show of my new work is at Harbinger Gallery, Waterloo, ON, February 28 to March 21, 2009, and is a combination of recent jewellery and sculpture.