Undulating, natural sculptures emerge from hundreds of drawing utensils in Jessica Drenk’s ongoing Implements sequence. Fascinated by the aesthetics and habits of multiples of mass-produced objects, the artist (beforehand) selected pencils due to their stackable form and “the thought that, if I sanded them, I could make a sculpture that drew on itself in the making: sandpaper would smear the graphite while the piece was being shaped,” she tells Colossal.
Implements explores the connection between inside and exterior, the container and the contained. The within of every work showcases the out-of-the-box objects, whereas the surface has been minimize and smoothed to disclose lengths of graphite and naked wooden.
Drenk has been making sculptures with pencils for a number of years, and the shapes proceed to evolve. One of many challenges of working with the fabric is the problem of gluing pre-painted, non-porous surfaces collectively. “In response to this, I once ordered 30,000 unpainted pencils to make larger sculptures that could be glued into more dynamic shapes,” she says.
Over time, the Implements sequence has influenced additional sculptures, similar to “Speleothem” and “Formation,” wherein the pencils compose bigger dynamic kinds. “In a sense, both aspects of the pieces resemble nature,” Drenk says. “Even the hexagon is found in nature, from beehives to columnar basalt rocks.”
Drenk is at the moment engaged on a geology-inspired sequence referred to as Combination that places unsolicited mail to make use of, together with wall sculptures constituted of books. Discover extra on the artist’s web site and Instagram.
