skyworks

Skyworks Sculpture Series David Sheldon

Orion
painted steel
96'X4.5'X3' (with base)
2016

Pater Andromedus
painted steel, 28"X24"X18", 2016.

Cassiopeia
painted steel, 6'HX2.5'WX2'D , 2016 ( 2 views )

Private collection.

Pleiades ( Time Harp )
painted steel, 6.5'hX4.5'wX2'd, 2016.

About "Skyworks"
Having lived in the Western North Carolina mountains for many years now, I draw from the
power and majesty of the mountains, the star-filled skies at night and a sense that one is
connected, in some way, to this vast, mysterious universe we live in.

My current sculpture series, that I call “Skyworks”, stems from this experience. Created with
what I call a ‘NASA aesthetic’, they are influenced in form by the immaculate instruments of
space exploration, as well as the moving rhythms of modern, minimalist music and architecture.
Humankind has always sought to understand our place in the Universe, and I believe Art plays
a vital function in that search. Beauty goes hand in hand with the acquisition of knowledge.

They're construction is a hybrid of old and new technologies. I begin traditionally, either
sketching shapes and forms on paper first, or working directly in 3D from the start - cutting out
shapes and forms in wood for my maquettes.Then, using computer technologies, I finalize
shapes using advanced, computer software. Plasma and laser cutters enable me to realize
and fabricate shapes and formulations I wouldn't have been able to twenty years ago.
Their construction follows patterns and geometries I don’t rationalize beforehand. I work
intuitively and emotively, and yet, at the same time I’m attempting to eliminate any trace of
what I would call ‘sentimentality’, and express a more objective state of mind.