Skunkadelia and The Art of Welding @Mobius

The 2nd Event in the Art of the UnGrand Series

an exhibition of Museum-quality
heavy-duty TIG welded
toys and sculpture
made from recycled steel by Skunk

** CLOSING RECEPTION **
**  MEET THE ARTIST ** (and his robots)
Wednesday Feb 22, 6-8pm

Opening Reception:
Saturday Feb 18, 6-8pm
with
Live Sonic Displacements
by DMC aka Stogie

Gallery Hours:
Sunday Feb 19, 3-6pm
Monday Feb 20-Wednesday Feb 22, 5-8pm

Skunk was born in 1969 in Framingham, Massachusetts, but moved to Maine when he was two. He did not return to live in Boston until 1992, upon then he quickly found his way into the trade of making all things bicycle frame, with a specialty for TIG welding titanium. This quickly led to all manners of trouble, such as forming the galactically infamous nerd gang known as SCUL, and running a robot-orphanage out of his friend’s garage.

When I make my art, sometimes I start with an image search on the web, and maybe a quick sketch. Most of the time I let the pieces of steel speak for themselves. Choosing the correct parts is the real trick. I lay a bunch of candidates on the table (or floor, depending on the size), and start rearranging and narrowing down the collection of parts. Often the one piece of metal that starts the inspiration gets discarded, ironically. I start with the main pieces, creating a skeleton of sorts. When I’m satisfied that I have the makings of a foundation I’ll tack everything in place with small spot welds. This allows the piece to hold together enough to get a first impression, yet allows me to move things around if desired. Once the piece gets a rough shape I usually walk away for a few minutes in order to get a fresh impression. I’ll make any changes that I see fit, then weld the pieces together permanently. Once the main body of the piece is complete, I dig through my ‘greebles’ bin. Greebles are the little details that get added on to round out the piece. For these I often use silicon bronze weld wire, which isn’t as structural as the all-purpose weld wire, yet it’s strong enough to hold the non-structural parts quite well. Silicon bronze possesses a brassy look that I cannot resist. It’s the perfect punctuation of color. Once the piece is fully welded I check all the pieces to make sure it’s welded strongly enough for surviving as long as possible: hopefully hundreds of years. Finally I apply a few generous coats of gloss finish polyurethane, to protect from rust and add a glossy sheen to the piece.

“…a shotgun wedding of Max Max and Dr. Suess.” — Boston Globe
“The age of robotic art begins.” —Boston Metro

Skunk has robots and rockets in the homes and offices of Rob Coleman, Anthony Daniels, and Kevin Kline. He’s given talks at MIT, been featured on NPR, in Maker’s Book, and on the PBS show Design Squad.

www.skunkadelia.com