Steel Figurative Sculptures

A mid century streamline design carousel horse in cast aluminum. The original paint was removed 40+ years ago and its been used as a sculptural piece of art.. Last owners claim it ca...

Man and Woman welded steel Measures: 2 x 24 x 14 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The Industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is Primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Biography: Scott Gordon was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1966. He attended the University of Denver where he studied business and the University of Washington where he pursued an MFA in creative writing. While he was in Seattle, he was introduced to steel as an employee of the David Gulassa...

Forged steel, paint 2013 Measures: 11.5 x 16.5 in. / 29 x 42 cm Hand crafted by William Roan, the blacksmith famous for making the original Bay Bridge Troll. About this piec...

This tall vase is formed from enamel on steel. The modern linear design makes this piece current and minimal. The vase is 10” tall and the diameter is 2.5”. Blue and green lines move...

A pair of French 19th century Baroque Revival style steel and patinated bronze figural chenets (Andirons). Each with a posing male figure holding a satyr shield next to decorative sp...

Rare Hi-Lo Collapsible modernist streamline bicycle by Cleveland Company,, M D T,, Amazing design and condition, bike comes apart for easy compact transport and storage, Retains all ...

This is a welded steel sculpture made by furniture creator Jim Rose. It is sustainable design created from salvaged and recycled steel panels left over from his larger projects. These sculptures reference traditional American Folk Art barn...

MAN welded steel Measures: Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The Industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is Primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Biography: Scott Gordon...

This playful Postmodern coat stand is not only a smart space saver in a hallway, pantry or dressing room, it is also a pleasant and cheerful interior e...

Sensational and unique 19c French Louis XV style gilt bronze and steel large fire fender. On each corners depicting two cherubs in seated and reclin...

Rare Philippe Starck for Driade Astronomie populaire sculpture.

City welded steel Measures: 18 x 22 x 14-1/2 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The Industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is Primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Biography: Scott Gordon...

Woman welded steel Measures: 5 x 5 x 13 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The Industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is Primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Biography: Scott Gordon...

Strange fruit Installation is a unique hanging sculpture by the British artist Chris Day created from hand blown and sculpted glass with steel, hessian cord, reclaimed electrical wire and butchers...

Unusual iron welded handmade folk art locomotive, train, very well executed. Artist /maker unknown.

1960s E Type Jaguar front fender.

Steel boy and girl figures "Guild on Innocence created by Sonja Oudendijk ( the Netherlands 1958)." These sculptures were commissioned by Manifes...

Monument welded steel 4 X 16 X 20-1/2 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The Industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is Primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Biography: Scott Gordon...

Caravan welded steel Measures: 8 x 16 x 15 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imp...

This large bronze figure was sculpted by the French artist Marcel Debut and cast by the Oudin foundry in Marseille (‘Debut’ and ‘Oudin’ are signed to the base). The figure represe...

Huge, one of a kind acrylic resin skull. Mounted to a light box and base with handles for moving. There is a cavity inside the skull in which a light can ...

Beautifully sculptural candleholder by Zanini de Zanine. Regarded as one of the most renowned forces in art and design, Zanini de Zanine creates pieces that bring a strong presence i...

One-Size-Fits-All is a unique sculpture by the British artist Chris Day created from hand blown & sculpted glass with micro bore copper pipe, copper sheet, copper wire, reclaimed cha...

Torch cut steel and mixed metals Surrealist sculpture of a headless seated figure. Haunting and thought provoking piece dating from the late 1960s-the early 1970s. Unsigned. The ...

Tortoise welded steel Measures: 4 x 10 x 17 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made im...

A large 1958 sculpture in welded steel, brass, bronze, and copper on a small plate mount by California-based artist Max Finkelstein. Entitled “Jacob’s Ladder,” the piece displays Fin...

Bird I wood, steel, carpenter’s level, bronze 12 x 8 x 31 in Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and ...

Ramp steel Measures: 6 x 8 x 42 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Biography: Scott Gordon was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1966. He attended the University of Denver where he studied business and the University of Washington where he pursued an MFA in creative writing. While he was in Seattle, he was introduced to steel as an employee of the David Gulassa Company, a fabrication shop which produced custom furniture and architectural fixtures. At Gulassa, after hours and on weekends, Scott worked on personal projects, applying the tools and techniques used in his daily work. Lacking resources to purchase stock materials, much of the steel he used came from the scrap bins at Gulassa. He also used steel found along the railways, shipyards, and industrial corridors of Seattle. The characteristics and limitations of the material helped him to define his aesthetic and his approach to sculpture. He currently lives and works in Vermont. Inspirations: David Smith, Anthony Caro, John Chamberlain, Julio Gonzalez, Richard Stankiewicz, Tony Smith...

Handwrought iron and steel cactus sculpture coat rack umbrella stand, all in heavy gauge iron hand-hammered, dark charcoal grey and iron patina, in very fine condition. Made in two s...

Charlie steel, found object 17 x 9 x 26.5 in. Artist statement I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. ...

A concrete bridge sculpture by Mexican artist Víktor Martínez. The sculpture features interesting graffiti art. Signed and dated 2013.

Vintage Congolese fertility wood carved icon. In my organic, contemporary, vintage and mid-century modern aesthetic.

The Cat steel 16 x 15 x 13 in. Artist Statement I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, ...

Huge 52" long bent steel decorative clothing Hanger Art. Hanger weighs 16 pounds and is constructed of solid steel metal which is separated in the midd...

Fantastic sculpture by American artist Ronald Gonzalez. Titled Axe Man and created in the 1990s. This item is accompanied with a letter of authenticity from the artist.     

Superlative examples of welded, Brutalist sculptures from the 1960s, this pairing of Gladiator and "King's Clown" were executed in steel, brass and slate by B. O'Byrne. The sculptor ...

Flucking Up Steel Measures: 36 x 12 x 14 in. Artist statement: I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The Industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is Primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Biography: Scott Gordon...

Shaman steel, found objects 20 x 6 x 20.5 in. Artist statement I seldom use stock material, but prefer distressed and rusted steel that has been scarred, bent, and made imperfect. In this state, the material becomes quite beautiful. There are figurative elements in my work, though I am more drawn to the non-figurative, to the raw and essential aspect of steel. The industrial purpose of steel must be considered, its use in construction, manufacturing, the military. Steel is forged with enormous energy and power. The process is violent, loud. Here, it is still and approachable. The compositions are constructed mainly from found parts. Their relationships manifest as I interact with the material. The pieces interlock, balance, and become fitted before I fasten or weld them together. The engineering is elemental. Altering the material is avoided. The number of parts kept to a minimum. Art is my spiritual exercise, my selflessness. It identifies me as a creator and satisfies my human longing for place and purpose. It needs not to be great, or preeminent, or commercial. Art speaks because it is primitive. It exists because it is sacred. Bio Scott Gordon was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1966. He attended the University of Denver where he studied business and the University of Washington where he pursued an MFA in creative writing. While he was in Seattle, he was introduced to steel as an employee of the David Gulassa Company, a fabrication shop which produced custom furniture and architectural fixtures. At Gulassa, after hours and on weekends, Scott worked on personal projects, applying the tools and techniques used in his daily work. Lacking resources to purchase stock materials, much of the steel he used came from the scrap bins at Gulassa. He also used steel found along the railways, shipyards, and industrial corridors of Seattle. The characteristics and limitations of the material helped him to define his aesthetic and his approach to sculpture. He currently lives and works in Vermont. Inspirations: David Smith, Anthony Caro, John Chamberlain, Julio Gonzalez, Richard Stankiewicz, Tony Smith...

Feliciano Béjar (1920-2007) sculpted these "Magiscopes" in Mexico during the 1970s and 1980s using glass ground with optic bubbles on both sides of the glass giving the viewer both concave and convex lenses through which to experience a new vision that we may perceive the magic and poetry that exists all around us. The sculptural Stand...

Large decorative screen titled "Dancers" by Artist Judith Brown. The large three paneled Avant Garde floor screen features an array of dancers floating across the top. The screen ...

This is a very early numbered custom edition sculpture by German metal artist Günter Scholz, who is well-known as the creator of over 450, more diminutiv...

Hand-carved sculptural leaf made from one piece of reclaimed mahogany wood. Burnt three times, sanded and sealed for this dramatic finish. Set on a modern black steel base. The Trip...

Sculpture in mild steel by Giovanni Rotondo from Italy, 2017. Unique piece. Biography Giovanni Rotondo was born in November 1964 in Rosolini, a small town in the south east of Sicil...

Sculpture in mild steel with wooden base by Giovanni Rotondo from Italy, 2017. Unique piece. Biography Giovanni Rotondo was born in November 1964 in Rosolini, a small town in the so...

An almost six foot tall die cut steel figure of Uncle Sam with original paint on a stand that allows it to fully revolve. A great image with striking facial fe...

1967 Big Space Age artwork Machine II. This impressive and unique sculpture titled Machine II, was created by the Dutch sculptor Kor Bekker (Rotterda...

Original metal sculptor of man holding eagle mounted on wood base by renown Texas artist and sculptor, Bob Fowler (1931-2010). Engraved on top of base initials "BF". Stamped on botto...

A rare piece to come up for sale. It appears to be a maquette done by Carl Nesjar for Picasso. The photo example shown is of another one from the book "The sculpture of Picasso...

Born in Edinburgh, David Begbie studied at the capital`s art school from which he emerged with a unique sculptural technique and the beginnings of a new visual language using steel-m...

Rare and unique clasped hands sculpture on a marble base. The hands are executed in nickel over steel and have the presence of a great sculpture and the ...

Made from found industrial objects, this face takes on different looks at every angle. A wedge, sprockets, gears are adhered to a found painted steel plate to complete this "Flatlay Face" Jim Rose Flatlay Face No. 05, 2021 found industrial objects 4.50h x 10.75w x 10.75d in 11.43h x 27.30w x 27.30d cm JR0299 Jim Rose b. 1966, d. 2023 Bio Born in Indiana, Jim Rose lived in Europe until he returned to the United States to attend college. After one year at Bard College, Jim transferred to the School of the Art Institute in Chicago (SAIC) where he graduated in 1988 with a BFA. His skillful interpretation of the Shaker design is a result of intense research and field study of Shaker furniture, architecture, culture and history. After over two decades of dedicated work, he has mastered the minimalism of the Shaker technique and created his own unique visual vernacular. The quilts of Gee's Bend have become a monumental influence taking this artist's work to new levels of unique interpretation and artistry. His selection of aged steel results in a patina directly related to that of aged wood while his colored strips beautifully mimic worn cloth. Each piece of furniture is masterfully made and intended for daily use. Jim Rose’s steel furniture is featured every year at SOFA Chicago for the past 25 years. Jim Rose b. 1966, Wisconsin Education 1989 B.F.A., Sculpture, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL 1988 Student at Large, Welding Technology, Triton College, Chicago, IL 1985 Undergraduate Photography Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York Awards 2008 Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship Award, Madison, WI. 2005 Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA 2003 Grant Recipient for Shaker Interpretations in Cast Iron, PA Arts Assoc / WI Arts Board 2003 Arts/Industry Residency Program for Visual Artists, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin Solo Exhibitions 2017 New Work, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 2012 Simply Steel, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI 2007 Variation, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2003 New Work, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2001 Shaker in Steel / New Work, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 2000 Shaker in Steel / New Work, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL 1999 Hands and Heart to Steel III, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL National Exhibitions 2017-2018 SOFA Chicago – Gallery Victor Armendariz 2016 - 1995 SOFA Chicago, New York, Palm Beach - Ann Nathan Gallery 2011 - 2002 Art Chicago - Ann Nathan Gallery Group Exhibitions 2017 Coming Attractions: Inaugural Exhibition, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL 2017 Living with Art: The Newman Collection, 108 Contemporary, Tulsa, Oklahoma 2016 Form Follows Function: The Intersection of Art and Craft, The Hardy Gallery, Ephraim, Wi 2015 NEO, Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 2015 ICFF, Furniture Society, Javits Convention Center, New York City, NY 2013 Vahki Revisited, The Enduring Spirit of a Craft Collection” Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ 2013 Fearless Furniture, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Indianapolis, IN 2013 Inaugural Exhibition, Museum Wisconsin of Art, West Bend, WI 2012 Sitting Pretty: Furniture from RAM’s Collection, Racine Art Museum, WI 2011 Hiding Places: Memory in the Arts, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, WI 2010 Living with Art, Strohl Art Center, Chautauqua Institution, NY 2009 Summer in Wisconsin, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI 2009 High Honors, James Watrous Gallery, Madison, WI 2008 Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum of Art and Design, NY 2007 Transformation 5: Contemporary Works in Found Materials, Art Association, Jackson, WY 2007 Transformation 5: Contemporary Works in Found Materials, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX (traveling exhibition) 2006 Show us Your Drawers, Herron School of Art, Indianapolis, IN 2006 Marriage of the Minds, Fairfield Center for Contemporary Art, Sturgeon Bay, WI 2006 27th Annual Contemporary Crafts, Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ 2006 Containers of All Dimensions, Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ 2005 Transformation 5: Contemporary Works in Found Materials, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA 2004 Right at Home: American Studio Furniture, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. 2004 American Collections, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 2004 More Than Drawers-Wisconsin Cabinets, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI 2004 Objects of Wonder, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI 2003 Planting, Potting and Pruning, Wustum Museum of Fine Art, Racine, WI 2003 Men at Work, Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI 2002 Case Pieces: Contemporary Studio Furniture, Elvehjem Museum of Art, Univ of WI-Madison 2002 Sitting Pretty: Contemporary Wisconsin Chairs, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI 2001 Anything with a Drawer - Award Recipient, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ 2001 23rd Annual Contemporary Crafts - Award Recipient, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ 2000 New Talent in Craft, Wustum Museum of Fine Art, Racine, Wisconsin 2000 Who Knows Where or When, Wustum Museum of Fine Art, Racine, Wisconsin 1999 The End is Near! Artists look at the 20th Century, Wustum Museum of Fine Art, Racine, WI Selected collections Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, Arizona The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin Kohler Company, Kohler, Wisconsin Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Indianapolis, Indiana The Chipstone Foundation, Fox Point, Wisconsin Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, Wisconsin Publications “Selected Artists of Door County” Stonehill Publishing, 2016 “Galvanized Chest” Door County Living Magazine, Autumn 2012 “100 Artists of the Midwest” Schiffer Books, 2012 “Piecework” American Craft Magazine, February 2012 “Hiding Places, Memory in the Arts” John Michael Kohler Arts Center, June 2011 “Second Lives, Remixing the Ordinary” Museum of Arts and Design, NY, August 2008 “Studio Furniture” Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, DC, May 2008 “Discoveries by Designers” Architectural Digest, December 2005 “Contemporary Metal Furniture” Metalsmith Magazine, Winter 2003 “Studio Case Furniture: The Inside Story” American Craft Magazine, October 2002 “Contemporary Studio Case Furniture: The Inside Story” Elvehjem Museum of Art, 2002 “Chicago Style...

'The Return of History' is a unique artwork by the American and Swiss artists, Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg. Combining Scandinavian and Venetian glass making techniques, their sculptural boat centrepieces are made from smaller blown and cut glass components nestled (in sand) inside a metallic hull. ''We are migratory creatures; the history of our species is about journeys, departures, leaving and arriving, starting over. And none more so than ourselves. Our new work is both culturally and personally inclined. An autobiographical touch in civilizational reflection. Wherever man goes he builds, laying down cultural lines which gradually transform into relics and artefacts over time''s inevitable march. Urban landscapes and complex designs grow and expand, deteriorate and decay. And on again we move, taking the memories of our exploits with us to use in the next story.'' B&G Baldwin (1947, New York) and Guggisberg (1955, Bern) have been a collaborative team for over forty years. They share an instinctive appreciation for the subtle blending of art and design, functionality and abstract expression, combined with a love of material – especially glass. The list of museums and collections which have acquired their works is long and impressive. Individual showings, as well as participation in group shows, have given them opportunities to present their works at leading galleries and in major museums in Europe, Japan and the United States and their works rank among the best to be found in the international glass art scene. Working freelance, they have also designed successful products for international glass manufacturers since 1985. Their clients have included renowned firms like Rosenthal, Steuben, Corning and Venini. Over time their work has developed its own distinctive signature, based in Italian cold-working (battuto) combined with the Swedish overlay process for layering colours. They have been pioneers in adapting these techniques and in creating a distinct expression of their own. Colour, light, texture, pattern, and shape together reveal an undercurrent of meaning and value, adhering to the simplest of forms and clear lines. Over the years they have become more sculptural in focus, while seeking to imbue their work with a deep connection to archetypal forms and shapes, and striving for the highest level of craftsmanship. They address eternal symbols of human culture and history, while embracing contemporary evolution in form and meaning. In recent years large installations and major exhibitions in public spaces, such as Canterbury Cathedral...

Stunning white and black Art Deco porcelain penny scale by Navco. Amazing design, reminiscent of a womans cloaked silouette, retains original key...

The giraluna is a spectral plant entity from Leo Lionni's Classic alternate universe  textbook Parallel Botany.  About the Sculpture: The Giraluna This elusive and capricious plant is the Dream Queen of parallel botany. Hydendorp, quite rightly, does not hesitate to define it as the "most parallel of plants, most plantlike of the parallels," and in so doing he stresses not so much its physiognomic oddnesses as the disconcerting normality of its shape. "If we were in the jungle," he writes, "and we found one blocking our way, we would not for an instant hesitate to hack it down with our machetes."1 But it will not be our good fortune to encounter it. If in reconstructions the Giraluna displays considerable plantness of form and an exact and convincing solidity, in its natural environment it can be perceived only as a nebulous interplay of glimmerings and empty spaces which alternate in the darkness and vaguely suggest where its outlines might be. (pl. XXIV) Its nocturnal presence, in fact, is manifested almost entirely in terms of the equivocal O'-factor of the moonbeams, which was discovered and measured a few years ago by Dennis Dobkin of the Point Paradise Observatory. This factor changes the light-shade ratio which normally defines volumes into a subtle interplay of lucencies and opacities, so that our perceptions, our basic sensorial habits conditioned by thousands of years of daytime life in the "solar key," would need complete readjustment and indeed reversal in order to come to terms with it. Daylight isolates objects, bestowing a noisy Meaning on all the odds and ends in the world. But night takes everything away except the very soul of things: a black light, a transparent darkness, a secret we cannot grasp. During the long night of the Erocene era man caught a glimpse of the Giraluna rising mysteriously in its barren landscape. Presolar man imagined himself the child of the Moon. In her lap he had known the comfort of the life, silent torpor of the night, and by her light he had seen silver pearls lie weightlessly upon the coronas of the first great flowers. But he left us only a few enigmatic signs of all this: the Feisenburg cave, the petrified bones in the Ahmenstadt tumulus, the Boergen Cup. Paradoxically enough, all that we do in fact know of his presence in that landscape comes to us from our study of his nocturnal vegetation, Around the middle of the Erocene era, when the flowers of night were fading away in the light of a new dawn, man saw that outlines and colors were slowly hardening. Thus he discovered the stone-hard world of day, and learned to be the child of both Sun and Moon, of Amnes and Ra, of Disarm and Karak, of Nemsa and Taor. The "crawling stones" of Yorkshire, the stele of Tapur, the graffiti of Klagenstadt, these have preserved for us the nearly obliterated images of the two divinities who from the center of their temples drew the design of the universe. But the Sun was not long in attaining absolute power over everything in the world. "O Ra, o Amno Ra our benefactor, glowing and flaming! Gods and men bow down before you, for you are their creator and their only Lord." Such was the prayer of Amresh, High Priest of Egypt. And a new vegetation, outspoken and exuberant, appeared on the earth, and made the bright leaves dance in the morning breeze. Night soon became no more than a dark corridor joining one day to another, a place of visions and memories, a storehouse of words and images. It became a secret refuge where the vanished flowers could once more flaunt their coronas to the Moon. And thousands of years later the black flowers of that distant night-Giraluna, Lunaspora, Solea argentea-were born from seeds hidden deep in a soil rich with legends and stories. If our knowledge of the Giraluna is today reasonably complete and detailed this is due to the industry and scholarship of Professor Johannes Hydendorp of the University of Honingen, who has collected and collated all known facts and kept his records abreast of the latest developments. Our historical and geographical information comes from the most varied sources: legends and folk tales handed down from generation to generation, accounts given by explorers, anthropologists, and paleontologists, and of course the more recent testimony of botanists such as Heinz Hornemann and Pierre Maessens. Source: Sivatherium. narod .edu About Sculpture: Leo Lionni is best known today for his children's books: Little Blue and Little Yellow; Frederick—the one about the mouse who gathers poems while his family is harvesting seeds for the winter—Swimmy the Fish. Of course the children don't remember his name, but to parents and grandparents, the ones who actually do the reading, he is something of a celebrity. Most people don't realize that Lionni is also one of the 20th-century's most influential graphic designers. Within that field, he is a legend. In fact, he didn't start doing children's books until he had left the world of advertising, teaching, and design to allow more time for contemplation and for art. Little Blue and Little Yellow (1959) began as an improvised entertainment for bored grandchildren. What can you do with a few scraps of colored paper and a lot of imagination ? Make the first best-selling children's book illustrated with abstract art. Before that his work as design director for Olivetti Corporation of America and the art director of Fortune magazine, the co-founder of the Aspen...