Cal Lane
Willow Warhead II
2011

Name: Willow Warhead II
Brand: Cal Lane
Price: 6000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Cal Lane creates stunning works of art with steel and a blowtorch. The works in her oeuvre are riveting, creating relationships that straddle the line between ornament and function. Her current series, Ammunition, contrasts beautiful patterns and imagery with utilitarian objects that include ammunition boxes and sewer pipes. Ammo Box (2011) is comprised of a cut steel ammunition box with intricately detailed patterns reminiscent of religious imagery and lace. The viewer is invited into the work, in composition of an altarpiece. The lace-like pattern creates a visceral desire to touch the delicacy of the lace while the cold metal materials simultaneously discourage this desire. Despite this conflict, it is difficult to turn away from the delicate and mesmerizing nature of this work. Lane uses materials equated with war and strife, materials unfamiliar to the day to day lives of so many, but familiar to so many others, and visually softens them. She creates a visual harmony by providing viewers with the comfort of beauty, making the previous unfamiliar materials familiar. This harmony creates a conflict within the viewer when faced with the uneasy realization there is an underlying connotation of unequal relationships. Gutter Snipes I (2011), a sewer pipe cut into a half-pipe, features juxtaposition between lace pattern and decorative scenes with mythological characters as the main actors in the carefully rendered sections. It is at this point in which the cold industrial utilitarian meet the intricacies of delicate patterned lace imagery for a rendezvous moment. The delicate pattern of the lace does not obfuscate the underlying utilitarian nature of the steel sewer pipe, but merely connects the viewer to the apparent discord between the two materials. The lace offers a thin veil that acts as the binary between the apparent beauty of the rococo style pattern and the underlying less beautiful realities that lurk beneath, incongruous social structures, excess and indulgence. Comparing and contrasting is at the heart of Lane’s work. She creates the connections, but it is up to the viewer to take what they will. These works are conflicting, juxtaposing the beautiful with the cold, harsh nature of the metal. These two extremes are embodied in the Ammunition series and cause the viewer to consider the value society places on frivolity and excess and reflect on what the darker side to the realities of these desires might be.

Creator:

Cal Lane (1968 -, Canadian)

Creation Year:

2011

Dimensions:

Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)Width: 10 in (25.4 cm)Depth: 4 in (10.16 cm)

Medium:

Metal

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

21st Century

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Montreal, CA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU476123394

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Shop All Cal Lane

Cal Lane

Sculptor and metal artist Cal Lane has garnered international acclaim for transforming industrial steel I-beams, shovels, car hoods and dumpsters into lacy, decorative works of art. While her sculptures can be interpreted as a challenge to gender stereotypes — the transformation of hard, “masculine” steel into “feminine” lace filigree — Lane suggests her art reaches beyond that.

“I see steel as a metaphor for confrontation, a thing that represents the walls put up by the society I was born into,” she has said. “Steel feels like the perfect material to carve into, to create the contrasts and conflicts that I myself struggle with.”

Born in 1968 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Lane trained as a welder and was a hairdresser in her mother’s salon on Vancouver Island before she turned to build a career in art. She earned her BFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and attended the State University of New York, where she specialized in sculpture and earned her MFA.

As an artist, Lane became interested in exploring gender roles through Conceptual art. Although critics have compared her work to that of American minimalist sculptor Richard Serra, known for his spiral steel sculptures, Lane cuts into steel objects, creating ornate patterns that reference femininity in her figurative and abstract sculptures. This is demonstrated in works such as Pantie (2017), Veiled Hood #2 (2014) and Grace Invasion (2011).

In addition to her sculptures, Lane produced a series of wallpaper drawings in 2017, such as True Barring, Mind Your Bubble and Poking Holes in the Ocean, depicting military submarines on cloud patterns. The drawings explore the perception of submarines as phallic war objects in contrast to their innocent depictions in popular culture.

Lane’s sculptures and illustrations have been exhibited in numerous international shows throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. Her works are also highly sought by collectors of Contemporary and abstract art.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of original Cal Lane sculptures, prints and drawings.