I had been given the opportunity of presenting my project to David Page’s sculpture class at American University, and to the extent he promoted it to his students and insisted they drop by with a broken object, of course he had to himself too. Now, for anyone who is not familiar with David’s own work, the chewed up dog toy he brought me would seem rather innocuous and innocent, but I knew better than that. If you take a look at his website you’ll understand what I mean, especially with regard to his Simple Machines.

Now, it is not often I get to transform an object in direct response to the work of a fellow artist, but in this case I just had to. I mean, if David didn’t pick that chewed up rubber tri-ball-cum-rubber-tube as a direct reference to his work, it sure was the same aesthetic sensibility which he uses in designing his sculptures that subconsciously guided him in his choice. And the answer is no, after having peaked at David’s web page for a while, the red rubber implement didn’t make me think of unruly dogs. What does it make you think of?

My answer to David’s problem was to be as useless as his own sculptural puns, and hopefully suggestive in the same way and direction. I know David is heavily into wood, but I felt he could need a bit of softening up here. My soft ceremonial sculptor’s wedge is, exactly like with David’s own wedges and priers, meant for an imagined and hopefully never discovered orifice or crack. I call it ceremonial to emphasize the cultic-magical role of the artist in today’s post-ritualistic capitalist society. The wedge itself is cast from a rubber silicone for mould making, and I did something cute which I would call an “inclusive cast” on the lower part of the rubber toy, where I left part of the object used for making the plaster mould inside it when pouring the modelling compound, thus fusing or fitting object and hollow space together. The wedge shape itself was first modelled in plasticine and then cast in plaster. The only thing I am curious about, is whether David keeps it at home or in his studio…