Mark Firth

Description

I-beams, Z-purlins, T-sections and C-sections or channels are some of the basic forms of steel bar (industrial sections) used in construction. Whether hidden from view by the cladding of a skyscraper or left as part of the aesthetic of engineered structures as in some of the great bridges of the world, these forms are integral to most of our built environment.

The principles of engineering, the history of physics and a passion for metals lie at the heart of Mark Firth's practice, and in Primary Sections he brings together these concerns with his skill in manipulating form within tight parameters, in this case the cube. Firth is very much a 'hands-on' sculptor, and spends much time at his lathe, cutting and rotating metal, mostly aluminium, into forms which retain their original, usually geometric reference. He responds to the cut and twist intuitively, and in this way he discovered his subject-matter for Primary Sections. There are nine variations in the set of 100 mm cubes which together form a wall-piece from which this work evolved, but to achieve the sculpture on a large scale he rationalised them down to these four basic elements. Scale is important in this sculpture. Firth required that a tall person should be able to see over the top, but also that it should be large enough to make you feel that the C-section might envelop you, therefore giving an architectural quality to the work. By their nature and design, industrial sections are normally used in lengths, so these cubic 'off-cuts' imply whole girders of truly monumental dimensions. In his models, Firth had filed the edges of acid-etched cubes to give them graphic clarity. To replicate that quality in corten steel he was advised by the fabricator that the corten sheet should be welded with stainless steel for contrast and for definition. The corten has been left to weather in order that the immaculate welding should absolutely define the form.