artist: Bill Secunda
He makes animals out of nails. Ripley’s Believe It or Not owns one of his bison and moose.
from artprize.org:
Artist bio: As a young boy,Bill spent many hours watching a neighbor weld and fabricate heavy equipment.The welding process intriqued him. During welding classes, Bill would practice his welding techniques by turning lifeless scrap metal into his first artistic creations. Bill’s creativity comes from the appreciation of the beauty that God gives each creature, large and small. Adding personality, balance, and a sense of movement to every piece makes each one stand out. Most everything Bill sees, hears, or experiences provides inspiration.
Artist statement: Bill Secunda’s nail sculptures are unique. Bill developed the technique 10 years ago while trying to create a bear sculpture like no other. He found that by using large amounts of nails, he could create the appearance of fur. It seemed like that was what he was meant to do; the whole project just seemed to flow. This opened the door to being able to create many different creatures. One of his favorites is the moose, created out of over 60,000 welded nails. The types of nails are masonary hard cut, collated, finish, and railrode spikes. These nails are welded over a steel rod armature, which is hand made with no measurements, molds,or drawings. This makes each piece one of a kind.
top photo courtesy of rdmegr of Flickr
bottom photo courtesy of one1ofmillions of Flickr
Very creative to see that copious amounts of nails could replicate fur! That moose must weigh a ton!
Not only does he nail the texture, but he really pounds out the form.
@Tom: I bet it weighs a couple tons. I’d like to see how they move it. Too bad the moose can’t animate itself and just walk home
@Spud: good point (pardon the nail pun). Often with these kind of use-weird-things sculptures, they suffer from a lack of form. This moose looks ripped.
I’ve now used “ripped” in two consecutive blog comments. I hope I don’t ever ban that word (cuz of spammers) or else these comments would disappear.
Happy Birthday Moose!