Announcing the S3, my latest pint sized sculptural object. It is a piece that brings a curious chapter in my art practice to a very satisfying conclusion.
One of the purposes of my kinetic art project has been to discover forms I might otherwise never arrive at, by pursuing mechanical functionality within the framework of my normal sculpture practice. From that standpoint this is certainly a successful sculpture as it performs beautifully, both mechanically and visually.
As you can see in the video above, this work is a double acting slider that operates in a similar manner to the S2. From there the differences are many.
Most notably, this work is an "offset turned" design using three indexes or axis of rotation. It also has three distinct detent slots, hence the "S3" designation.
With this work, I was also finally able to come up with an inconspicuous assembly mechanism that securely keeps the detents in their respective slots without overextending or twisting off track.
Previous works either had bulky keeper mechanisms with visible hardware or required extra care to operate without accidentally ejecting the insert.
Most earlier designs required me to sacrifice aesthetics in some small way to accommodate the mechanics. This new assembly freed me up to really add some great details and open up the internals to better appreciate the geometry I was working to create.
The only down side, if you can call it that, of this new assembly is that it requires a special tool to disassemble the work, should the need arise. This means that once the work is put together, it will likely stay that way once it leaves my possession.
I know some of you enjoy taking your sculptures apart to appreciate the engineering that goes into them (I know I do). Disassembly will be a little more difficult now for the small group of you who like to tinker with your art pieces. However it is not impossible. I am happy to share how it all works and I will post a video sometime soon explaining everything going on inside the work.
For the rest of you, it hopefully means no more lost bearings and springs, either from intentional or unintentional disassembly.
The S3 is larger than previous sliders as well, which makes it a striking desktop piece. I had to scale the work larger to create the necessary room to fit all the mechanics without compromising on the design. It has quite a bit of heft to it as well, owing to its all stainless and brass construction. So while I am still calling this a pocket sculpture, it may require some large-ish pockets to carry it around (no skinny jean carries on this one).
Dimension on this work are 4.05"x 1.8"x1.8 while closed, and 5.25" long when open. So a very substantial piece as far as pocket art goes.
Similar to my last small edition ("The W3") this is a work that attempts to bring more of the focus to the sculptural aspects of the project. Allowing the work to grow in size and complexity, and letting the ergonomics slip in importance just a little, allowed me to do much more visually with the object.
If you visit the link, you might notice that the W3 was actually an early experiment to test the workability of a triple offset turned composition, I never intended for the W3 to become its own work, but it happily turned out that way.
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| S3 inserts shown outside of the assembly to illustrate detail. |
Also, as you can see in the image above, the inserts for this piece have a lot more detail as well. I even went so far as to use the powder coat coloring that I have previously reserved for one of a kind and special release pieces. While the powder coloring requires a fair amount of extra time and hand work, it looks amazing so I decided to go for it.
I will be offering the five colors you see above when the pre-order opens.
Lastly, there are two pairs of little brass details, one set on the insert ends, and one set inside the bore of the outer assembly. These bits only reveal themselves when the work is in the open position.
So like I mentioned in the title, this is very likely the piece that brings my Slider experiment to a close. While it has definitely become one of the more interesting and popular tangents in my work, I feel like the idea has (maybe) run its course. I am equivocating because I never say never. But I think it's best to end on a high note rather than run an idea into the ground simply because it is popular. So I do consider this my grand finale.
The good news is that this will free up some bandwidth and allow new and equally interesting small art projects to bubble up from the background and take shape. Either way, I promise to keep things interesting.
So, down to brass tacks and "How do I get one of these?"
For those of you interested in adding this work to your collection, I will do the usual pre-order style sign up sale this coming Wednesday, May 16th at 11AM EST
The S3 is one of the more ambitious editions I have attempted to date, many of the machine operations are untraditional to say the least, and so it is quite a time consuming and complex operation to build one of these. Because of this, the S3 is going to be a bit on the pricey side as far as small works go, but I wanted to make the work without compromise.
The fulfillment timeframe is also going to be longer than usual due to the long build time.
You will have to wait for the sign up link to go live to learn the exact price as I do not post pricing on publicly facing media (think NHVB territory for those familiar). Also, I will give everyone my best guess on shipping once I know how many sign ups I have received. I anticipate this to be a solid 3 month process with the works shipping in batches in the order of sign up.
Again, I will post the link for this sign up sale on Wednesday May 16th at 11AM EST.
I will post it here on this blog, and on my Instagram account.
I will leave the sign up list open for as long as I can, at least 24 hours so long as things don't go crazy, but I reserve the right to shut it down as soon as I feel I have too many orders to handle.
This will very likely be your only opportunity to get one of these very limited works, so I encourage you not to miss out if you are inclined to add one to your collection. I say this not because I want your money, but because I have enough experience now to know that the secondary market has not been kind to those who decide too late that they must have one my small works.
So check this space on Wednesday for the sign up link, and I will have the rest of the details available then.
Good luck, and as always, comments and questions are welcome.
