Short Film on Wire Sculptor Rodger Stevens

It feels great to return to an artist, creative or craftsman and offer them a little further coverage, given many of these independents are on quite a personal journey with their work, it’s interesting to see what makes each one tick. I thought today we’d revisit the work of New York based Rodger Stevens who Mark highlighted previously, with many of us enjoying seeing his quirky and playful wire sculptures. I’d certainly not come across such an expansive collection of wire like this before, we’ve dabbled in the office with our own sculptures in the past but these are on a completely different scale. So I was looking over his website yesterday and I noticed that Persol had put together a short film that documented a little more about Rodger, offering up views of him creating at his home studio and explaining further why he creates in the way he does.

I jumped at the chance to showcase a little more because I was really intrigued not only by Rodgers workings but also his energy for taking in his surroundings and getting inspired by what he finds. Interestingly enough Rodger says the most frequent time he formulates his next project is when he’s lying in bed, he begins to visualise the various shapes, kinks and bends in the wire and later uses these visualisations as a blueprint for the following days work. This sounds almost meditative and I guess his mind must be at its most relaxed point away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the glare of the computer screen.

Rodger then goes on to explain how the connections he makes through his work compel him to remain enticed and engaged, for example he tries where possible to add in elements that remind him of his daughter and other family members. This way he’s creating objects that have a real personal value behind them too, that complement the aesthetically pleasing narrative he has developed with the wire. Inclusions that we the viewer wouldn’t notice but are quite touching really when you think about it.

This is why I think short documentary films are a great medium for highlighting creatives because there are so many different elements that can be incorporated that you wouldn’t even think of. Yesterday’s posts with David Adjaye and Minoru Kano were insightful and interesting too from our point of view, so if you didn’t catch these and you’ve got the time I’d recommend a watch. For further information on Rodger Stevens and his wire sculptures I’ll leave the link to his website just below.

www.rodgerstevens.info

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