Collins Library is pleased to announce the winner of the 11th Annual Library Senior Art. This year’s recipient is Ben Sample for his work Progress. The jury describes the artwork of this emerging young talent as fluid, intricate, beautiful, and exciting. Ben receives prize money and, in exchange, the library has the honor of displaying the winning work in a prominent location on the main floor of the library for one year.
Artist Statement
My current body of work is a dialogue between the subtractive refinement of my base forms and the additive spontaneity of tensioned lines. In my building process, glued and layered wood is molded, cut, sanded and prepared to produce symmetrical, geometric forms that provide a void in which rubber can erupt. The bands are then drawn taught and anchored by hand to contrast the geometric balance of the external form, coming together relatively suddenly and impulsively. The final result is a manifestation of equilibrium, tension, and poise on a foundation of constructed line.
While my fabrication process is inspired by the constructivist movement of the 1920s, it is not simply a constructive undertaking. The addition of stretched rubber adds an uncertainty and mercurial nature to each piece as the outer structure silently struggles to retain its shape against the tension of each band contained within. The final accumulation of potential energy transforms the base form from a static foundation into a fluid and elastic element, held in balance by massive opposing forces.