JESMONITE, STEEL / SCULPTURE / 2024
BY ARTHUR HAINZ
The pouring of a viscous casting material alongside a similarly viscous liquid “mould” material is the basis of this research. The hypothesis is that by introducing them to a container simultaneously, the naturally occurring fluid swirls, caverns and textures within the casting material will be stabilised and supported by the partner material long enough to cure. The mould material is then poured away to reveal the then petrified remains of the casting material’s previous existence as a liquid.
The liberation of the casting material is by definition the discarding of positivity and negativity from the casting process. While the perfect replication of the fluid dynamics of one material with another is not possible, the attempt to match their properties is an effort to dissolve the existance of positives and negatives. In essence, until the moment of extraction of the one material out of the other neither confines nor surpresses the other, the heirarchy between mold and material is non-existant.
Close-up profile
Close-up profile
Close-up profile
The process of casting a material also implicates a process of moulding. Few casts exist outside the confines of a mould, the artificial confines through which fluids are made to conform to our expectations of a solid. While functionality is the defining factor in most casts and therefore predefined forms are required, could a cast-able material be allowed the freedom to retain its once liquid identity throughout its solidification, with a purpose assigned as an afterthought?
From the archeological finding of the “first mold and cast” made 3200BC of a copper frog to Egyptian metal decorative castings and Greek plaster molds, casting has been an essential process in the survival and development of humanity. However, since the finding of the negative space with which a mold works, the caste able material has been relegated to an agency-less side-character in the process of form creation.
The single most significant obstacle in the path of expressive freedom for these materials is the materiality of their cells. With moulds often constructed out of rigid materials, variation in the outcome is impossible outside of minor deflections. Even when made from pliable, soft or otherwise dynamic materials, without a fluidity that matches that of the material casted the casting substance will always be restricted to the limits of its partner.
