To express some of the elements I will be playing with this year in sculpture, I have found a wire artist that experiments with wire in many of the same ways that I try to. Devin Mack resolves his pieces by experimenting with various wire elements, in a rather formal approach to wire. Devon treats the wire as more of a line element to be manipulated instead of just contour support. By manipulating the type and shape of wire throughout the piece, A stronger visual representation is made.
Some would argue that this element of different colors can weaken the piece. This is true, in a respect, but
not in regards to this style of wire art. Here the wire acts not only as body, but contour as well. Not only is the
shape made manifest by the wire's inner workings, but also through a strange sense of drafted third-dimensionality. This falsehood is a strong part of the work, as it is the same concept applied when drafting a landscape or figure on paper, yet it as been applied to an object that already exist third-dimensionally, giving a strange bit of animation and life to the piece.
This form of wire sculpting is something I am familiar with in my own works. It exhibits a need to express life in the work, almost, as arrogant as it sounds, to
Frankensteinian ends, seeking to express life as solid yet
abstract.
To these ends, Devin Mack has also composed a few short stop motion
films, showing wire alive.