TITLE: Entangled
ARTIST: Brose Partington
DATE: 2004
MATERIALS: painted steel
DIMENSIONS: 9′ x 7’4” x 8’2”
TYPE: sculpture
What might a sculpture made by the son of a clock repairman look like? Indiana-based artist Brose Partingonton’s Entangled (2004) offers a glimpse. Consisting of eight interconnecting pieces that resemble the gears and mechanisms found in his father’s old Indianapolis clock repair shop, Partington’s abstract timepiece gives us time to think about the relationship between mechanics and nature.
“I’m currently building structures as parallels to patterns of natural occurrences,” explains the artist. “My work examines the subtle movements around us, and the patterns those movements create. I am trying to compare the cyclical patterns found in nature with manufactured objects, environments, and modes of transportation.”
In a world where manufacturing jobs are in decline and automation is on the rise, might Entangled be seen as a kind of memorial to the lost art of traditional craftsmanship? What can we do with the remains of time’s past?
To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entangled_(Partington),
which includes information created by
Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students
in 2009 as part of “A
Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”