David Lobdell, Artist Statement
Lobdell’s sculpture deals with communication and he is engaged in a complex investigation of language through a blending of historical sources, both ancient and modern. Binary code forms the conceptual skeleton of the digital age and Lobdell has playfully investigated inherent verbal analogies through both the literal sculpting of human skeletons along with describing the movement of binary code through space. Vortexes, Euclidean planes, streaming lines of code and spiritual mandalas are formed from the basic building blocks of zeroes and ones.
Lobdell has recently become involved in producing impermanent works that mark the landscape. The uncommunicative aspects of verbal streaming are made evident in Lobdell’s endless grid of ones and zeroes stamped into an enormous stretch of beach in Scotland, while also commenting on its transient and even momentary existence. Another ephemeral work created on a hillside in Wales involved rhythmically branding and arranging zeroes and ones into the elegant form of the mandala. The process of making the work is captured in stop-action video and the slowly developing image reminds us of the repetitive effort required for an individual to build and construct a spiritual life. It reminds us not only of the work involved in creation but also the short-life of the private offering or prayer.
The material reality of Lobdell’s sculpture varies from gallery-ready castings to impermanent markings, but his theme persists as an investigation of contemporary human dialogue. Binary code has become a basic building block for much of his recent sculpture, though it is informed consistently with the integration of the primary element of fire. Metal casting involves high levels of heat, flame and molten materials, while recent explorations in scorching the landscape involve portable torches and heated branding irons. Lobdell brings fire into even his most intellectual investigations, such as his message furnaces. These are steel frame constructions built into a variety of simple three-dimensional forms such as vertical pillars, horizontal bars and curving arches. The architectural containers are lined with heat-resistant fiber the way that skyscrapers are hung with glass and then they are heated until they are filled with flame and light. The audience becomes interactive by writing personal and secret messages onto slips of paper that are sealed into envelopes and inserted into a slot in the side of the roaring sculpture, which serves as a cremation pyre for their written offerings to the cosmos. The transience of life is a recurring theme in Lobdell’s work, made evident through skeletons, eternal symbols, performance art and ephemeral work, but intertwined with his acknowledgement of mortality is a strong belief in redemption, offered to his viewer through both contemplation and direct interaction.
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