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DAVID MCLAUGHLIN LOST & FOUND Please click images above for full view.
David McLaughlin's sculptures have the weight of heavy metal, the detail of precision engineering and the playfulness of children's toys. Two of the pieces in this exhibit--Treading Lightly and Treading Lightly 2--incorporate cast iron shoemaker's lasts, metal spheres and outsize nuts and bolts meticulously assembled upon wheeled bases. They hark back to the pull-along toys of early childhood. Large Sphere on Wheels, another pull along toy, is created from metal shear rings welded together and mounted on wheels. Alone it would be a statement; the addition of a pull-along handle makes it joyful.
The serious side of McLaughlin's work is informed by his concern for ecology and the fragility of the planet. Believing it is better to reuse than discard he has amassed an impressive 100 tons of scrap metal, old machinery and tools, enough material for a lifetime of making sculpture. McLaughlin lives and works in what was an abandoned canning factory in Liberty, Maine. He started with metal at Yale and settled into it as his life's work when he moved to Liberty in 1972. This is his first exhibit at June Fitzpatrick Gallery.
LOST & FOUND
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