ÜGLY
Spacecraft: elongated mass with a crinkled silver metallic crust, bristling with stubs, set on a base of red steel rods; white plinth, work by Robert Bibeau

Spacecraft

An elongated mass, lying flat, sheathed in a silvery metallic crust with a crumpled relief. Beneath the coating the silhouette stays branch-like: fine ramifications at one end, a denser section bristling with short spurs at the other. The red lacquered steel-wire stand holds it in suspension, roughly eighty-nine centimetres in all. The piece steps away from the usual gesture: the material is wrapped rather than hollowed, the object lies horizontal, and the taut base speaks the language of modernist furniture. A hull hovering in place, or a branch caught under frost; the title leaves both readings open.

Spacecraft
Spacecraft
Spacecraft
Close view of the silvered ridges of the wood, red showing deep in the grooves, a small turned chrome fitting at right, against a night blue painting flecked with white
Three quarter view from above of the silvered mass resting on a red lacquered board, short stubs pointing upward, in front of a blue painting streaked with white and bright colours
Side view of the long silvered wood lying flat on a glossy red shelf, its row of stubs turned upward, the right end running out of frame, two dark blue painted panels behind
Closer framing on the upper part, the long silvered branch arching over a dark hollow, reddish bark showing under the metal coating, the join between two speckled blue canvases behind
Video
Reading notes

The steel wire and silvered shell look toward mid-century design, Bertoia first among them. The found object is coated here, transformed without being negated: a path between the chthonic outsider register and an almost pop elegance.