I visited the SCAD Museum of Art yesterday and was struck by two exhibits by artists who use pattern and repetition to transform hard, dangerous forms into beautiful, organic pieces.
The first was sculptor John Bisbee whose exhibit Floresco is displayed in the four jewel boxes outside of the museum as well as in the lobby. The pieces I was drawn to were the four pieces in the jewel boxes. These are created out of 12" bight common spikes, the largest nail commercially available, that he forges and welds together. Individually these nails seem hard, slightly dangerous and utilitarian. Bisbee manipulates the form of the nail and then structures these new forms into different repetitive patterns to complete the transformation of the original material into pieces that appear soft, delicate and natural.
Artist Li Hongbo takes a similar approach in his colorful exhibit, Irons for the Ages, Flowers for the Day. Like Bisbee, Li manipulates the original, dangerous forms he is referencing and then uses patterns to further the transformation into a beautiful, organic piece. However he takes the original form manipulation further by changing not only the form but also the material and traditional colors of his reference forms.
Without these samples showing the process behind these sculptures I would not have know these shapes were all referencing guns and bullets.
They are made out of layers of brightly colored paper glued together so that when they are cut and fanned out they create beautiful honeycombed patterns. The resulting shapes are then arranged and stacked by shape and color to transform them into a beautiful and delicate rainbow display.
This exhibit was created for this space and purportedly took two years to execute from planning to completion. Once you understand the reference the exhibit becomes a little more threatening as you realize you are standing in a hail of bullets looking down the barrels of multiple guns. Fortunately it is only paper.