Cyborg Robot Pig Rider
To be able to integrate the pig into my little robot community (Robotopia), I figured she should get a rider. This is the first time making joints that are adjustable.
Images by @kdhill_photography
The Slave
This one is called ‘the slave’ because of the purpose behind creating it. The piece will be part of a larger installation about our relationship to technology and the question of who is serving who in the end. Stay tuned for that.
On his own, without the head gear, I considered calling him ‘the meditator’ because of his serene expression, but as we are all to different degrees slave to our impulses and desires, and as the meditation I practice is in large part a struggle to reduce their power, I decided ‘the slave’ remains apt as a title.
Beaglebot
Beaglebot started with a found object, an incomplete machine that might once have been a vacuum cleaner.
It was giving atomic age vibes and it looked like it was missing it’s head, so I gave it a new one.
The Pig
This one is just a pig. Inspired by the shape of the piece of wood.
You can see some of the steps in the sculpting process in the gallery.
I see a future for it with a saddle and a robot rider.
The Trophy
The antlers are from an old, broken hunting trophy that came with a wagon we acquired.
To be killed for sport and then used as wall decoration and a symbol of the recreational hunter’s prowess is an old cultural phenomenon that has lost it’s shine with the growing cultural recognition of humanity’s devastating impact on the natural world.
I used my own face as a reference.
I was reflecting on my own mortality, thinking about what are ridiculous and pointless ways to die.
The Cyborg
The cyborg as a representation of the ever increasing intertwining of life/biology with technology in our civilization.
While I was creating this piece, I also happened to read the novel ‘War Girls’ by Tochi Onyebuchi, which sets the Biafran Nigerian civil war in a future where the children and women who end up as fighters, get repaired and upgraded with advanced robotic technology, escalating as the war does.
It speaks to what war does to people and what they end up willing to sacrifice. A bit of synchronicity in coming across and reading this book while in the process of making this sculpture.
The Mother
In this piece I, for the first time, combined my skills in working with wood and metal. I added some broken mirror for good measure.
The idea of sculpting a mother to be grew out of the shape of the piece of wood. It had a pregnant look, so to say.
Light came to represent new life, warming the heart through reflection in the mirror mosaic.
The Dragon
I learned to weld when I was a teenager. The purpose was always mechanical. I never considered using it for making art, at least not before I saw Patrice Hubert give a live workshop at a festival where his artwork was exhibited.
As I stood there watching I realized his most basic way of working was within my skillset. With the feeling of “I could do that” a seed was planted.
Obviously I have no desire to imitate, and will always strike my own path, but I do feel honorbound to recognize him and his work as a source of inspiration.
The Queen
The process of creating this piece was similar to how I often paint.
I started with abstract shaping, working without a concept, without knowing what it would be in the end.
At a certain point it became obvious it would need a head.
It became the Queen only at an even later point when I decided to add the horns and headdress.
The Spirit of the Forest
Dessicated tree roots exposed to the elements for years,
looked like the hair of a spirit asking to be revealed.
The finished piece was returned to the forest whence it came,
as a physical representation of the spirit of the forest.
Robotopia
To visit my little robot universe
Furniture
To see some of my furniture production
Makvärket
To see some of my contributions to the place that facilitated the development of a lot of my skills, and where I lived as a resident artist for a number of years
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