Artist: Josh Garber
Medium: Charcoal
Dimensions: 31''x 38''

Bidding on this artwork will take place at the Live Auction event, Friday, April 5. Tickets available at the link at dvsa.ca. Absentee bids can also be placed in advance – request a form at the school office or email bid@dvsa.ca.

About This Piece
I am interested in transforming the inherent static inertness of industrial elements into a radiant sensual energy. Using industrial materials in whimsical, playful, and sometimes irreverent ways I reshape the utilitarian view of industry into a more jocular and erotic meditation. In my work, industrial materials such as nuts, bolts, screws, hex nuts, steel bars, etc. blossom into a larger realm of fantasy. Through repetition in organic configurations, they become more intimate extensions of ourselves.

Biography
Canadian sculptor Josh Garber creates organic and intriguing sculptures using welded steel, aluminum, and brass. While working in either a large, nearly monumental scale or producing smaller more intimately proportioned pieces, Garber captures feelings of spontaneity and weightless volume. Describing his process he explains “My work is about interpreting gestures through mappings of coordinates. It is very influenced by digital pixilation which dissects images with thousands of dots. Similarly, I use thousands of aluminum bars to map and then construct each piece. My work is about eroticizing industry, technology, and the life sciences. I use aluminum, stainless, and bronze bars and ready-made materials such as screws and hex nuts to create organic sensual forms. I am strongly influenced by the industry around me such as the L tracks, the bolts on the I-beams, and the sound of machines. To me, transportation, the electrical grid, and computer communication are more than functional necessities. Rather, they form a social, economic, and industrial web: a network that connects us. Along with these interests I am fascinated by the intricate patterns in neurology and microbiology particularly the structures of mitochondria and the dynamic movement of synaptic firings. All these currents of energy are threads of stimulus that are interwoven in my work and are overlayed with playful romantic yearnings.”

Josh's work is in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.