Of Iron and Steel marks an important stage in the development of my practice, where the physical qualities of iron and steel began to become closely connected with ideas of human vulnerability, endurance, and connection.
Mother and Child and Quiet Endurance explore the human figure through simplified forms, using the inherent weight, strength, and permanence of steel to express something much more fragile. Rather than attempting to describe the figure literally, I reduce it to essential forms, allowing posture, balance, mass, and surface to carry the emotional weight of the work.
Mother and Child explores protection, connection, and the instinctive relationship between two human forms. The solidity of the material contrasts with the tenderness suggested by the subject, creating a tension between physical strength and emotional vulnerability.
Quiet Endurance approaches the figure in a more solitary way. Its restrained form suggests persistence in the face of difficulty - an ability to remain, endure, and carry on. The weathered surface becomes significant here, giving the sculpture the appearance of something that has experienced and survived time.
These works became an important foundation for the ideas developed later in Re-Rehearsing The Fracture and Why Not Peace? The intimate vulnerability of the individual figure gradually expanded into broader questions about humanity: what we build, what we endure, what we destroy, and what remains.
In this sense, Of Iron and Steel can be seen as an early exploration of the human condition through material. The works begin with the individual, but point towards the larger questions that continue throughout my practice - the relationship between strength and fragility, permanence and decay, and ultimately, what it means to endure.
Nick Rodgers