How to Make a Sculpture With Nuts & Bolts

Published: Dec 9, 2009
Updated: Feb 23, 2021
1 minute read

Contemporary artists have become increasingly interested in thinking about the way art communicates. Conceptual art examines these matters, addressing the intellect through the visual sense. In conceptual art, the ideas generate works. Create an abstract illusion out of nuts and bolts to express new technological age. Produce an evocative abstract fantasy.

Things You'll Need:

Things You Will Need

  • Iron Shapes
  • Welding Gas Equipment
  • Nuts And Bolts (300 Units)
  • Iron Rods
  • Self Darkening Helmet
  • Screwdriver
  • Welding Gun
  • Sculpture

    Design a structural iron skeleton. Show several irregularities that will help your design to break out of convention. Make your viewers interested in artistic possibilities of using nuts (hardware fasteners) and bolts (bolted joints) as new materials and methods borrowed from industrial technology.

    Create your composition from iron rods and wrought iron shapes. Use a welding gun to attach the pieces as you see fit, being sure to wear the right protective gear. Make contours, boundaries and dividing planes your only functional elements. Synthesize natural and industrial shapes.

    Add your industrial fasteners’ design formula to your functional elements to reinvigorate the basic form, like screwing stainless steel bolts into the nuts using a screwdriver. Your bolts might pull two surfaces of the sculpture together or just create a décor: dramatic angles, ellipses and circles. Consider adding color to your design using paint, or leave it raw and industrial.

    References

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