Perfect Imperfection

This piece leads on from an earlier blog focusing on the beauty of imperfection, and explores our opinion as a race that any blemish is unpleasant and displeasing, and spoils a perfect surface, especially true in context with the human body.

The base is manufactured from molten iron, complete with inclusions, impurities and gas holes. The “imperfection” itself is a smooth shiny stainless steel ball bearing.

I have aimed to portray that both the base of the piece and the focal point of the piece to be the exact opposite of what we would normally expect them to be – the “skin” is old, corroded and damaged, the “blemish” conversely is perfect.

This latest sculpture is one I have been aiming to create for some time, but until recently, the raw material has proved somewhat elusive, despite many beach combing excursions and trawls through scrap yards. However, found quite by accident on a hill side in North Wales the base is a piece of melted cast iron – according to the local land owner, it is the residue of a significant fire some 50 years ago.