Joshua Goss - Sculpture and Metal Design

ARTIST STATEMENT As mountains rise, fractures and folds expand through the Earth’s crust. With exposure to the atmosphere, organic textures are eroded and underlying structures and patterns are revealed. In this work Joshua conveys the idea of time and material. Time is demonstrated by the movement and offset of the layers – over millions of years horizons that were once flat become juxtaposed. Metalworking processes become an analog to geological processes taking into account the origin of the material being used. The use of steel and plastic to make these sculptures references geological process and time in several ways: 1. Both steel and plastic are products of geological processes. Iron is a result of mineralization. Plastic is made from fossil fuels. In both cases these transformations are caused by metamorphism of the parent rocks. Metamorphism is a change that sedimentary and igneous rocks undergo when exposed to time, heat and pressure. Joshua’s sculptures are a framework in which to make geological time more realistic to the human perspective. Geological processes happen on a magnitude imperceptible to the human scale. Theories of Earth’s development are based on hypothesis and objective observation. The investigation of elementary materials, pliable and transferable, informs my understanding of the Earth and processes within.