James Capper

Description

James Capper's 'Ripper' drags itself along to physically carve out or 'rip' up a path, displacing gravel, dirt or whatever may lie in its way. It is a "tool for making art," according to Capper, who has incorporated a control box as an element of this work. This encourages the viewer's active involvement in effecting marks on the earth's surface as 'Ripper' moves along.

From a young age, Capper has been interested in cranes and earthmoving equipment. This interest has developed to encompass the processes effected by these tools. 'Ripper' is an example of Capper's ability to consolidate both the aesthetics and the mechanical procedures of these machines to produce a work that is more about simple machine aesthetics and process than about productivity and output.

'Ripper' is part of Capper's series of floor-marking or mark-making works, all of which sit on skid plates, innovated by Robert Gilmour Le Tourneau - an engineer who, in the early 1960s, recognized the global importance of moving earth. He produced various machines and technologies to facilitate this, many of which have influenced the technology we still use today, and have certainly proven influential to Capper.

'Ripper' sits atop three skid plates composed in a tripod-like formation to ensure the work is consistently balanced. An armature is controlled by the viewer, via the control box, to extend up and out and to sink the tooth into the ground in front of 'Ripper,' dragging the remainder of the machine along and marking the earth. All of the elements of 'Ripper' were custom-designed by Capper to produce a machine that is futile as an 'earthmover' but functional as an 'earthmarker.'