Ivan Black

Artist statement

My interest in sculpture began at a young age and I have had an enduring fascination with wire as a medium. My early two dimensional wire sculptures soon evolved into three dimensions. I added movement to my work and the figurative subjects gradually gave way to geometrical forms.

My current work uses unique kinetic mechanisms to create forms that mutate upon the introduction of energy, frequently by the viewer. My work responds to the nature of this interaction, behaving differently according to the nature and skill of the manipulation. Recent works have introduced a unique bearing mechanism that allows the slightest breath of air to set the sculptures in motion.

The repetition of identical elements is a recurrent theme in my work, by this means I generate complex, fluid structures. The majority of my sculptures comprise a section of a potentially continuous sequence, confined in scale only by the limitations of space and of the materials.

I take inspiration for my work from nature and the laws that govern natural geometry, the DNA helix, the movement of the celestial bodies through space, sound and light waves and the golden spiral. The movements of my sculptures mimic these dynamic geometries, imbuing them with a uniquely organic motion.

I am represented by Kinetica Museum and my work exists in the context of pure kinetic sculpture. I tend to avoid external mechanisms and integrate all moving and mechanical parts into the work itself. I'm attempting to add something to a genre that is not always characterised by the originality of its practitioners, dominated as it is by the templates set out by a few masters such as Calder, Ricky and Tim Prentice who continues to practice.