A Modern Bundle of Sticks

Hard materials forced together by tension create a dramatic, weighted piece. The raised block’s suspension creates a tension which mimics the tension of the rods forced together by the block itself.

This piece did not start as a sketch or even a drawing, but an assemblage of pieces within my imagination. I had the parts so I assembled them & gave it an edgy name for this age. Probably the one of the heaviest sculptures I have made, it is short & stocky. The cinder block sits suspended by the tension of so many rods forced through its center–there is not even joinery of any kind holding the rods themselves together. Also, the arrangement of the rods is deliberate to reach a pinnacle, tower like stature. There is an arrangement of binary on the ‘plaque’ in front, but it is the viewer’s purview to translate. It is just a short phrase, but could lead to larger implications.

The title has several implications, the least of which is literally referential. The modern sticks are of course the steel threaded rod, and the bundling agent is the concrete. Another take on this is slightly more abstract. The word ‘faggot’ has a primary definition currently of referring to a male homosexual. However, it’s older, truer definition is a bundle of sticks for use as fuel. If that trade on meaning is taken, this piece is then a modern faggot, and as such displays via material a change in the stereotype of male homosexuals. I did not create this piece directly for this interpretation, indeed the piece is mostly a reaction to materials. As the name was coined, this additional meaning/interpretation presented itself.

A Modern Bundle of Sticks is 7.5″x9.75″x27.5″ with threaded rod wedged into a cinder block which has a wood. hydrocal. copper & aluminum ‘plaque’.

View More: Aluminum, Concrete, Found Objects, Plaster, References, Tension, Weight, Wood