kindred spirits

as an artist, i find, you're looking to articulate a clear voice that resonates with other people, that hopefully can provide a catalyst for thought, stir ideas and generate interest in the world at large. part of that desire to have a clear voice goes to striking out a unique territory. to offer the world novel outlooks, unchartered explorations and fresh ideas.

sometimes, in that quest, you stumble upon other voices that share a similar pitch. that sing in the same register. with this comes both an excitement of shared expression, of finding other people engaged in the same explorations, coupled with a slight worry that you don't want to tread on someone else's turf. of course, this could be just me. but in my effort to attempt to add something original to the ever growing historical output of artworks i'm pretty keen to also ensure those in my field of interest don't have me stumbling into their own particular efforts and producing work that's already been done. i'm sure some of this concern comes about as a consequence of doing postgraduate research, where intellectual territories are well guarded. one must always site where an idea comes from, and one must always credit those that arrived into new territories first.

anyway, the reason i mention all this is that recently i stumbled on a work that i felt immediately connected to.  on this particular occasion, it is the discovery of an artwork that is similar to what i am about to commence work on. occasionally this happens and, again, it both excites you and makes you a bit hesitant. if only temporarily, until you realise the differences that exist.

here is a wonderful sculpture by mexican artist gilberto esparza, called nomadic plants:

gilberto esparza, nomadic plants

basically, it's a plant robot. the robot seeks out contaminated water in urban environments to feed the organisms living in it. amazing! 

my next sculpture is going to be a plant robot too. not as complicated and technically advanced as this, however, but a plant robot nonetheless. working with this idea of hybridising nature and technology, and confusing the power relationship in that coupling - is the 'natural' components driving the technology or is the technology driving the 'natural' components? or are they, perhaps, symbiotic? raising those ideas in the viewers mind is the driving motivation of my recent sculptures.

seeing this work by esparza inspires me to push myself harder to make work half-way as wonderful as this one, and it also keeps me on my toes to ensure my work is my own voice.

i'll continue to post documentation of the studio progress of this next sculpture and we'll see how it shapes up.