John T. Upchurch
Tip
2020
Mahogany, red oak, maple, walnut, cherry, brass, aluminum, steel wire, paper, felt, string, graphite, wax, enamel paint, found objects
9 1/4” x 54 3/4" x 7 1/4"
Creating sculpture is, for me, a solitary act, and one might expect that a shelter-in-place order would be a boon to productivity. One brings more than tools and materials into the studio, though. News of the world comes along, too. A disrupted routine can interfere with all sorts of habits of thought and process. It can also lead to a re-evaluation of what has been–through intent or slow acclimatization–accepted as normal.
Tip (detail)
In the case of Tip, it was necessary to adjust my usual procedure of allowing conceptual associations to emerge gradually as I develop materials and form. I began this sculpture with an element that contained a defined narrative component.
The central, steel disk came to me with a pattern of deep, defined scratches. As I was cleaning those up, they put me in mind of the spectral emission lines used as atomic "fingerprints".
Tip (detail)
I applied the pattern and colors associated with the element carbon and, using that as the seed, continued to build. Themes of surveying, measurement, time, balance, music, influence and others emerged, but viewed through that initial lens, the piece maintained a consistent through-line. It became a meditation on climate change as a counterweight to pandemic, protest and the shifts in human activity of the past several months–one global crisis helping me think and work through another.