Up-cycling, Assemblage, and Found Objects

Tire up cycling as Planters

It appears that these terms merge in some artist's work and diverge closer to the present time.
Upcycling appears now to be the use of discarded material to make or manufacture a new product.  A good example is the use of old sweaters to make rugs or to felt into hats or potholders.  Some up cyclers do use materials to make art objects.

Louise Nevelson assemblage

Assemblage brings to mind Louise Nevelson among many others.  In this, objects formerly seen as individually utilitarian parts of a whole construction, such as the legs of chairs, clock faces, hammers, etc, are combined to form works of art.

For me neither of the above entirely describe my found object work.
I have a few guiding 'principles' that keep me within an interesting boundary:

1. The objects must have been discarded carelessly (not in recycle bins).
2. The objects would likely be passed by by most people (seemingly insignificant).
3. The objects in most cases are weather-worn (they've been lying around, washed up, or run over).
4. The objects contain some element of history (although it may be indecipherable or mundane).
5. The objects, collectively, cannot be recycled (they do not fall into any category).

crow head by David Neufeld

Crow 

'Crow', the sculpture and the bird, has a scavenging inclination.  The initial inspiration for the piece came as I drove by shattered truck tires on the margins of the highway.  The steel belting makes these pieces of black rubber fierce looking and fierce to work with.  The lower beak is a vertebrae of a deer, the upper beak is rusted spike.  Then there's the fishing net head form.

I have larger slabs of truck tire remnants that are slated for a 'Raven'.

As I said at the start, this approach to sculpture, although not new, attempts to imbue the collective materials with something unexpected, yet natural.

Why Two Faces?

As the figures I sculpt develop, there appears an opportunity for a second face.  This is either the 'other' side of the piece's intent or in the case of mythical characters, the other half of the partnership.

One of my earliest pieces was 'Returning Soldier'.  The reverse side of this piece portrays a foreign casualty of the war or it can be argued, a 'partnership' that grew out of the war.































Sometime later, I made Neptune with Amphitrite, his wife.
















Just last week I created 'Angel'.  As an abstract (to me) figure, the other side of this sculpture seems to represent some other form of the angelic,  perhaps the animal side.

Kings and Other Lords

Battle King

Caesar

Some motifs reappear in my work.  Given that my previous professions didn't include much figurative work and among the few figures, the 'King' motif was non-existent, it appears to have found an outlet in my found object sculptures.

Carl Jung, father of modern psychoanalysis might say I am exploring the archetype.

As each figure develops, a title emerges, sometimes early, sometimes just before completion.

In these four, it might have been the inherent posture of the figures that led to their regal titles.  We respond to posture, bearing and clothing.

Neptune

Shogun