The broken sculptural pieces of Jonathan Prince reveal visual treasures.

steel sculpture, Jonathan PrinceDisc Fragment 2011, Jonathan Prince

The Cynthia-Reeves Gallery in New York is presenting Prince’s work from February 10 – March 30, 2012. His Torn Steel series is the result of laborious hand-working. The outer surfaces are oxidized steel, and the inner forms revealed have been polished to a shining finish.

steel sculpture, PrinceSouthern Remnant, Jonathan Prince

Prince begins by sketching out his concepts on paper, then refining that on computer. He creates a urethane foam model next with engineering drawings, noting the essential materials for fabrication. After the work is constructed, he marks the sections to be “torn” out, which is a process accomplished with a plasma torch.

And this is not the end . . . stainless steel plates are shaped and welded into the form, patterns are overlaid onto the plates with a MIG  welder, and all areas are then smoothed and blended with a TIG welder. The final step is polishing and smoothing with various abrasives.

steel sculpture, J. Princeworking on Torus 340, 2011

His background is just as interesting as his work. From sculpting in his teens with stone, clay and plaster, he moved into the art of dentistry and maxillofacial surgery. From that career he went on to directing and producing films and computer animated special effects projects. After those varied twists and turns in profession, he finally came back to sculpting.

steel sculpture, J. PrinceSouthern Remnant, on display on Madison Avenue

Visit Jonathan Price’s website for more of his sculptural work:  www.jonathanprince.com

Use these navigation links to get to inside blog pages, where you can comment.