During
a camping trip to Joshua Tree National Monument I ran across these wonderful
little remains of dead cactuses. The flesh had completely disappeared
leaving only this rounded cylinder of interlocking thorns. Each cluster of
thorns was set in a diamond pattern similar to the pattern of a pineapple or
a sunflower. Structurally, the carcasses were stunning and i knew I had to
mimic them somehow in a more monumental way.
I
constructed dozens 6"x6" steel "nodes" that would interlock with each other
using articulated angle brackets and threaded rod cross members. The
resulting structure was this heavy malleable mesh that could be pushed and
pulled into all sorts of positions. (I'm really interested in exploring this
rigid/malleable characteristic further in future works.)
On the face of each of these nodes, I mounted 5 articulated brackets to
hold the porcelain thorns I cast. I created 8 different shaped molds and
cast them in a custom formulated charcoal black grey porcelain. There are
over 250 thorns on this piece ranging in size from 6" up to about 13".
The piece is called a fragment as I feel that it may be expanded up in
size sometime in the future.
Thorn Fragment