Assemblages:
In my work, any piece that transforms two or more components into something different from what they were individually is an assemblage. It doesn’t matter whether the pieces are man-made or natural, metal or wood.
What matters to me is that a piece of driftwood becomes the body of a saxophone and the complicated valves and workings are made of seashells and wishbones. Something other than what they used to be.
Continued, below...
In my work, any piece that transforms two or more components into something different from what they were individually is an assemblage. It doesn’t matter whether the pieces are man-made or natural, metal or wood.
What matters to me is that a piece of driftwood becomes the body of a saxophone and the complicated valves and workings are made of seashells and wishbones. Something other than what they used to be.
Continued, below...
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All images are copyrighted © 2015 by Samuel DiTullo.
The use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission from the artist is obtained.
The use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission from the artist is obtained.
I have been making constructions of one sort or another since childhood. The first I remember that got any attention was a combination of plywood, a wrecked model car, a dime store skeleton and a tree branch that ,with a little paint and glue, became a warning against drinking and driving; my father got his insurance agent to display in his window. I took a metal sculpture class once only to find I didn’t care for welding, grinding, or bending steel. I didn’t like the sparks, fire, noise or smell of the metal shop so I avoided it and submitted a sculpture made of plywood, plastic chess pieces, a broken brass alarm clock, and a rubber baby doll that I lathered with a product called Metal Mold that, once set, looked like aluminum.
I got an A-plus.
I have always been a scavenger/beachcomber kind of guy, which you could blame on my dad. My father took us to the dump with him nearly every Saturday morning of my childhood. And although his motivations were different, he did teach me one very important thing: people throw away stuff that still has value. Dad’s eye was for things he could turn into cash, accumulating piles and barrels of scraps, until they got hauled off to the junkyard or the flea market. On the other hand, I bring the things I scavenge into my home. I live with them, sometimes for years, before they become part of a piece of art.
I believe anything that has a purpose, a reason for existing, has a life. I like to think what I do is give the things I find a new life, a different reason for being in the world.
I have always been a scavenger/beachcomber kind of guy, which you could blame on my dad. My father took us to the dump with him nearly every Saturday morning of my childhood. And although his motivations were different, he did teach me one very important thing: people throw away stuff that still has value. Dad’s eye was for things he could turn into cash, accumulating piles and barrels of scraps, until they got hauled off to the junkyard or the flea market. On the other hand, I bring the things I scavenge into my home. I live with them, sometimes for years, before they become part of a piece of art.
I believe anything that has a purpose, a reason for existing, has a life. I like to think what I do is give the things I find a new life, a different reason for being in the world.
