Modern Contemporary Nail Inlay Table No. 404 by Peter Sandback

I am artist and furniture maker working in new Hampshire. I use nails to create intricate patterns on all variety of objects and surfaces The nails are glued into pilot holes, clipped, sanded flush with the surface, then polished. The result is a pattern of shiny dots of various dimeters. I create objects and furniture that is generally modern in form but highly decorated with as many as 11,000 nails. I use this nail inlay technique to make non-functional objects. The first were wall pieces. These pieces are not for a particular customer so I am much more free to express myself. The imagery and patterns are culled from endless web searches. A favorite has been Japanese stencils called katagami. I have hundreds saved and an equal number altered to fit my liking. My current interest is searching images from artist’s sketchbooks. A favorite is a very quick Donald Judd sketch of a simple object to be fabricated with a large “$60,000” written above. I have also used prints and drawings by my father. My current work involves nail patterns on firewood from my Father’s wood pile. He died 20 years ago but his wood pile remains untouched. He was the minimalist’s minimalist - constructing large sculptures from a few strands of yarn. The installation space is transformed with this simple use of this simple material. He was proud that he could build a meaningful sculpture with 50 cents worth of yarn that he bought at Walmart. Similarly, I decorate a plain old piece of firewood with a handful of plain old nails. I get very close to my 50 cent goal. There are many possibilities using this general idea with different materials. I have created decorative inlays on a large piece of coal, a baseball bat, a football helmet, moose antlers and a cow bone. BFA University of Michigan MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago