The Asian Welder

this is my maquette for the “four noble truths”. it stands approx. nine inches high. initially it was for a public art commission here in tucson, however the project fell thru for many reasons, mainly political but also budget cuts. it was suppose to have solar powered lighting, which i had chosen neon as the lighting source. one tube of white light would wrap inside the top circle to emit a very white light, and inside the base i was going to use red neon because of it’s relation to chakra one, being the base element and because humanity on a whole begins with a foundation. i have been waiting to build this for three years now! coming out of my two year hiatus i decided it was time to just take this beauty on myself and let the “suffering” bear full weight upon me.

my Buddhist beliefs obviously had a lot of influence in this piece. i wanted to build something where people from all walks of life would come upon it and reflect or contemplate it’s purpose. i chose to have the titles of each panel done in japanese text because of its beauty and also because not many people here can read it, i like people to come to their own understanding. the neon lighting was bagged because i did not have a specific site or patron when i started so i didn’t want to worry about electrical wiring and outlets of source. instead of light emitting from the base i chose to go with smaller panels of steel to be painted green to accentuate the calligraphy, if i had gone with red the calligraphy would have gotten lost inside the patina. bronze was my first choice of metal because it exudes warmth  and living outside will become better with age, unlike carbon steel which just rusts here no matter how many times you seal it!  my other choice of metal was stainless because of its high sheen and stated elegance. the two metals can be welded together using fill rods of silicone bronze. stainless for some reason always reminds me of the ethereal, of open space, emptiness and also reminds me of chanting prayers to Buddha Manjushri, the supreme “stainless” wisdom.  the base is dark almost black(progression) as we ascend towards the sheen of stainless(energy) and rise to the moon(universe) and sentient beings(circle). for some it may reflect a stupa while others may just see geometric angles and shapes. my hopes are that it triggers a question within the viewer. is this presence enough?

in my last post i mentioned explaining “maquette trickery”, because i cut apart the sculpture to redo the integrity of the frame inside. well, sometimes my mind is not so smart! the scale of the piece translated fine however the top portion, the moon and circle, were heavier than i estimated.  the weld from the base of the moon to the top of the tubing was an obvious stress fracture waiting to happen! if it wanted to live and stand up to the forces of nature i had to rebuild the frame to go thru to the top! ssswwweeeeet!  bring on the suffering.