RICHARD TUTTLE
Swift Confirmation, 1998
Cast silicon bronze
6 3/8 x 7 x 7 3/8 inches
Edition of 10
$10,000

 

 
 

 

     

 

 

 

The title of this piece refers to the cross-over of the non-visual to the visual world. The artist sees the piece as literally capturing energy- transformation and change of the conceptual to the concrete. Each of the ten numbered exemplars is unique. As with Tuttle's other works, Swift Confirmation makes visible what we do not see with our eyes- activating perceptible space through geometric form. The original models were fabricated in wax and the interiors were filled with a urethane foam by the artist. Using a propane torch, he then melted a hole through the side of the wax model, exposing the urethane material that then produced a foam growth element on the exposed surface. Tuttle then burned into the foam growth with the propane torch. Each of the models was then encased in a ceramic shell investment and the wax and foam was removed through a heat melting process. The impression left in the ceramic shell became the cavity into which molten bronze was poured. After the bronze solidified, the ceramic shell investment was removed, the bronze was then chased and a chemical patina applied to the surface. Finally, a coating of wax was applied as a sealant.