brief sculptures of parts
Our sculptures last less than a hour. All their parts start and end the day in a pile nearby. We put the parts together, usually 3 to 6.
They’re leaned together or balanced. We use clips, wire, skewers or magnets as needed. We photograph the compositions we like and call them sculptures.
Then we might make some changes and come up with something else we like that’s similar. More photographs. Or we’ll take the piece apart and grab some other parts to compose with.
We’ve also been casting old glassware. We glue them together (E6000 or Loctite construction adhesive). Then we wrap them with handmade paper - cotton and/or 3 hour abaca. Let the paper dry and then we break the glass to get it out.
We like the strange empty volumes of the missing glass. We like to have some broad straps recalling the glass form contrasting against the crisscrossing the abaca that provide the structure for the paper forms.
These lost glass casts come out looking like full blown sculptures which we find strange and kinda retro even like we’re did something wrong. We do work them in as parts when making our real sculptures.
First piece below is late 2024. Red is cotton with some abaca. The white & blue are overbeaten abaca. Size? The vases were standard flower shop vases.
The 2nd is 2026. All abaca and all of a foot long.
How we work (for illustration purposes only - we’re never this tidy) We make a lot of handmade paper objects often combined with other materials. We make our sculptures by combining/arranging/composing those objects together like those on the table. If it’s interesting we photograph it. Then the piece comes apart and the objects return to the inventory.
Someone wrote -
that Matisse’s paper cutouts are without “finality and finish;” they flourish in “a state of perpetual deferral.” We like that.
Our collaboration is almost seamless.
We are Barbara Landes & Paul Sullivan. We have shared several studios since 1997 and been collaborating since 2015. about us
Thank you for looking at our site. LandesSullivan @ gmail.com