[Today’s featured artwork for Day 61 of the 365 Days Project is by Jack Metzger.]
The art of reincarnation.
#61 – Resurrecting creative work from another era is an art of deconstruction and reconstruction.
Creative inspiration is not only handed down from artist to artist throughout the centuries, but entire masterpieces from other eras are sometimes resurrected and reworked to suit a new generation. The sinking of the Titanic has seen many film reincarnations, and the 1997 version by James Cameron not only brought this timeless story to a younger generation, but it inspired an entirely new musical soundtrack.
The fascination for the Artist Mind is not in copying past work verbatim, but in taking it apart, studying the themes and reworking them into a contemporary setting and perhaps even finding something new.
Jack Metzger’s creative process embraces the art of deconstruction and reconstruction perfectly. Metzger is an antiques dealer with a shop full of fascinating historical artifacts that provides the materials and the inspiration for his sculptural work.
“Through the years I have collected bits and pieces of history,” said the artist. “It might be a rusted finial from a 19th century fence post, a broken water jug, or a wooden shovel with old repairs. A shape, texture, design, or color would catch my eye and I could feel that it was going to be a part of my art someday. Many of the things that I saved had been broken, lost, discarded and forgotten, and these eventually become my art.”
The beauty of “reincarnated” work is that the original is somehow carried through the centuries and made relevant. It is no longer seen as an historical piece, to be viewed under glass with hushed reverence, but it becomes a living, breathing part of a “new” history that’s being created, with a contemporary message that speaks to us in the here and now.
It is a way of guaranteeing, as sung by Celine Dion in Titanic, that “My heart will go on.”
Description of the images included in this post:
Connecting Heaven and Earth
Jack Metzger, New York, USA
1920’s marble egg resting in hand-woven copper and brass wire nest, mounted on yellow wooden 1930’s foundry pattern (background 19th century weathered copper from old copper boiler)
She Holds My Dreams
Jack Metzger, New York, USA
19th century stoneware fragments, mounted on 18th century floor-boards, (cut in a circular pattern), framed 1940’s circular foundry pattern
The 365 Days Project
In 2012, Serena Kovalosky committed to writing an article a day for 365 days as an exploration into the lives of artists and the value of creative thinking in our society.
Experience the full evolution of the project! Click below to read the entire collection of articles.
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