Gross measurement: 85.5 x 69.8 x 69.8 cm
Sand Machine - Blue Bamboo Batangas, is a concatenation of small, preciously accumulated seashells threaded by a string on an overhead rotary device, traces and retraces forms in the sand on a square base underneath. The Sand Machine, first developed in 1963, was one of the first of Medalla’s many machines to create pictorial mapping, calligraphy in motion, erasing, redefining and reinventing synoptic lines and moving calligrams. The employment of blue bamboo in this 2019 iteration from the project is particularly important as this was the stick David used as a child with his mother when he was inscribing calligraphy into the floor of the rice fields, as well as making self portraits onto the floor. The artist marks this as his first experience as an artist. The sand machine is another of Medalla’s iconic creation from the 1960s, together with his bubble machine, also known by the title Cloud Canyons. The sculptures evidence Medalla’s abiding scientific and sculptural interest in the motion and energies that activate matter, resulting in the creation of “formless”, auto-transforming, changing, unpredictable biomorphic structures. Both machines are created as open-ended series where new iterations of the sand machine and the bubble machines are made when he is inspired or has the desire to create a new manifestation.
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