Assemblage Work & Statement

Even as I was gathering materials, I had in my mind an experience I had had the weekend before, which was riding a full sized horse for the first time in my life--and falling off.  The event did not scare me, but I think it awakened a respect for the temperament horses can have--as well as how majestic they appear, especially when they take off at a gallop.  I had a few ideas about the kind of structure I would build even as I was gathering materials, but it really came together mostly through a process of elimination.  I like everything I do and everything I make to be organised, clean, and orderly, and I think I ultimately achieved that in this sculpture by keeping it fairly simple.  The most complicated part of the process behind this piece was logistic - figuring out how I was going to get it to stand on its own.  I had to try a few different types of glue and creatively rig little setups that would allow the pieces to stay in place until they dried, but I managed it eventually.
One thing I did not realise until I was close to being done with the piece is that almost everything I had collected fit into a warm brown colour palette - from the gold of the bookend/shelf bracket pieces (henceforth to be known as the horse's head) to the warm honey coloured wood pieces from the letter box and the dark reddish brown chain from the hanging lamp.  Originally, I thought I might not like to keep everything its existing colour; I had in the back of my mind that I might like to get a can of white or light grey spray paint and paint the whole thing once it was put together, but once I acknowledged the existing colour palette, I realised that would take away strength from this piece.  I did have to paint a few things to fit them in; for example I had some handheld garden rakes that had silver prongs and light wood handles, and they were too cool for this palette.  I got a dark brown hammered look paint which reminded me of a horse's coat and sprayed those generously.  I also had a dark metal gear, which would have been fine had it been clean, but it had some red and blue paint on it.  So instead, I got a highly metallic gold, brighter even than the matte gold paint of the horse head, painted the gear, and affixed it to the back of the head like a stained glass halo.
Partially because of the colour hamony, partially because of the general aesthetic, and partially because of the experience that inspired the piece, I wanted to photograph the sculpture in context.  Ideally, I wanted to find a wheat field, and set both this sculpture and the egg sculpture in among the golden stalks.  Of course, there isn't anything like that around here.  Instead, I was able to find a barn, and photographed the horse there, establishing an even stronger connection to the experience that inspired the piece.