Sculptures

These metal/stone sculptures are imbued with concepts of balance, static and kinetic motion, and a sense of fluid movement reminiscent of water’s flow and the captivating spirals abundant in nature. The animal sculptures explore a minimalistic approach to elegantly represent the shape of the animal.

Contact for Availability and Pricing at alexander.turanski@maine.edu

This was a project I did as a student in the Intermedia Program at the University of Maine, Orono. I call this piece ‘Conceptual Balance: A Harmony Between Gravity and Floating.’ What I mean by conceptual balance is to find a balanced harmony, displayed through art, of both ends of a dichotomy. In this case, the dichotomy is the pull of gravity vs. that which floats. Gravity and floating both have contrasting behaviors. Gravity is fixed and certain, thus the methodology of the building that represents gravity was done in a very straightforward and determined way. The stone sculpture is a single line (large pyramid stack) construction to represent the up-and-down pull of gravity that affects us. For the floating aspect the origami birds, butterflies, and dragonflies appear to be floating through the use of a magician’s prop of invisible thread. The thread is barely visible in a dark room and with neon lights, an effect is created that makes the origami appear to be floating.  When it comes to the behavior of floating there is a scientific law called ‘Brownian Motion’ which states that there’s random motion of particles that are suspended in a liquid or gas. This random behavior is translated to a stochastic methodology for finding the placement of the “floating” origami. I dropped small round rocks on the top ceiling panel and placed anchoring wax to wherever they randomly rolled to. This concluded a conceptual balance of fixed determinism and random outcome within the methodology of the piece.

The dichotomy of these two realms was illustrated in other ways as well: The stones are 100% naturally formed and the stack is built from the ground up. The invisible thread hanging from the ceiling is made from 100% synthetic nylon, and the paper for the origami is a mix between organic tree pulp and manufactured chemical bleaching. 

This is a sculpture that touches upon a spectrum of opposites from material to placement to imagery and methodology and ties it all together within a conceptually balanced installation. I hope this piece inspires people to be curious about finding the balance and harmony that can be discovered between all dichotomies.