Cursive is the third set in a series of small bronze glyphs, following Lexicon (2017) and Paragraph II (2018). The glyphs started as a collection of ink drawings and paper cut-outs, each on a single page from a dictionary. Previously I had taken a drawing or silhouette and given it just enough body to stand on its own feet – paper, stuck to cardboard, and put on a stand. With the glyphs I wanted a silhouette with the weight that the shape suggested. A shape not just balancing in space, but filling space. Something to hold in your hand, with both shape and heft. [WK]
The bronzes start in two dimensions, first as drawings in charcoal on found pages, then as black paper silhouettes. From these silhouettes, maquettes are made in foam board. Molten black wax is then applied to the armatures to build the form of a piece. The wax is sculpted and manipulated with tools and by hand until the piece is resolved. These wax maquettes are then used to create the moulds for each bronze, which are cast at the Workhorse Bronze Foundry in Johannesburg. [DG]
These are sculptures of words, of objects, of glyphs. As if you could weigh a word or hold it in your hand, there is a sculpture of an hourglass, or a trophy or a simplified tree. [WK]
The bronzes are unspoken, inarticulate or uncertain words and phrases, which sit on a shelf. [WK]
Selection by Damon Garstang, October 2020
