Persistent Tension Sculpture

Artist Statement

Persistent Tension is a body of work which considers the tension of connection across distance, and the ways in which presence continues to exist beyond physical proximity.

The sculpture brings together oak and steel cable, materials shaped over time through processes of growth and force. The cable, partially engulfed by the tree, suggests a relationship that has been absorbed, resisted, and endured. The forms do not meet directly, yet remain bound through a sustained tension. These lines of connection are neither fully secure nor fully released, existing instead in a state of suspension.

The wood carries visible traces of transformation. It appears worn, hardened, and marked, holding within it a sense of time and memory. The steel elements pierce and anchor the form, introducing a dialogue between the organic and the imposed. What emerges is a subtle negotiation between containment and release, attachment and separation.

The painting extends this language into a more atmospheric register. The red arc recalls the gesture of the cable, but shifts into something less fixed, more ephemeral. It moves across the surface as a trace, suggesting presence through its absence. The landscape beneath it appears unstable, dissolving and reforming, as though shaped by what is no longer there. The mechanical form is echoed here, but softened, becoming symbolic rather than structural.

Together, the works explore how connection persists in altered states. Distance does not dissolve presence, but transforms it into tension, memory, and residue. What remains is not always visible, but continues to exert a quiet, perceptible force.