65”h x 25”w x 12”d
ANDREA DAVIDE Talks About This Kinetic Sculpture Of The Holocaust
“Forces Elemental” moves beyond Davide’s earlier works, featuring a reappearance of the RoundTimer motive, but now springing gleaming and pristine from amidst black stone. The delicacy and apparent intent of gears and glass, brass and clarity, form a strong contrast with the smooth, black granite, positioned by precisely formed spacers, supports the surrounding symmetry, divided off-vertical, is a commentary on
Forces Elemental, purchased and donated by Dr Frank Buchsbaum, a Holocaust Survivor who passed away in 2014, speaks to the tragedy of individual loss and the endurance;
the triumph of humanity.
A wall sculpture, which is part of the artis’s original works in her exploration of time’s reality. Its large, almost 6’ wide, open lattice structure incorporates stained glass discs and shapes, grandfather clock brass gears, and an interesting collection of well used pocket-watches, all fit onto a solid brass geometric framework.
As an artist, Andrea Davide is an archaeologist of sorts. Her methods for gathering information often center on her ability to sift through an array of materials used in the manufacturing of timepieces, such as clocks, and give them a purpose related to the original intent. However, rather than recreating a traditional clock or other type of common timepiece, Davide creates a new work that inspires its viewers to consider time in a fashion that is more complex than the traditional linear chronology. Her work, SecondTime, does just that.
SecondTime is comprised of a variety of parts from the mechanisms found within older clocks, which the artist then culls, machines, configures and repurposes. One look at this artwork reveals to the viewer Davide’s dedication to her craft. She approaches her method of choosing each piece, restoring surfaces and machining each cog and gear with the precision and craftsmanship of a master watchmaker.
The material characteristics within the piece formally complement each other. The gauzy quality of the colored circled planes has the transparency to allow the viewer to see the structure underneath. These spherical planes act as panes of stained glass, individual segments of fluid color joined together as a cohesive whole to tell a story.
The glass circles are also complemented by the smaller gears and cogs culled from old watches and clocks. They are featured throughout SecondTime, interlocking in clusters, giving the piece a Steampunk appearance of some type of locomotive. Davide takes as much care during her process of refinishing and machining these cogs and gears to fit as the original clockmaker would have to ensure their clock ran smoothly. These aren’t simply adhered to a surface to create a look—Davide spends many hours in her studio, working with precision tools to create the exact requirements needed to actually get these materials to fit and work like a proper timepiece.
Through the negative space in and around the gears and discernible behind the transparent glass circles and rectangles, the frame provides not a physical foundation for the entire work, but acts as a formal framework, as well. These skinny brass pipes are reminiscent of staffs and bar lines taken from sheet music, with the other elements of the artwork acting as notes.
Davide’s SecondTime may not be activated, like a clock would be, but her end products tell us more about the passage of time than the modern watch can. In her works, Davide reveals the human struggle to try to wrangle time via the use of mechanisms and technology is a current theme. She shows that while we spend so many resources and so much energy, both directly and indirectly, to try to manage and manipulate time, we will always fall short. We don’t have the capabilities to comprehend time in its true form, which is so much more dynamic and fluid than the linear, static form that we use to measure it. While the study of this futility may seem like a negative exploration, Davide shows hints of the true nature of time and the beauty that is revealed through this study.
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