These Days
Ten years after first picking up an old plowshare from a barn floor Harry Anderson's sculptures are composed mostly of the artifacts of work. The tools of our endeavors, be they from the family farm or the factory are recycled to create works of art. These elements often function in a structural manner, serving as the joints that hold a work together or a base that supports it, where in the past their use was mostly visual. Anderson finds his materials in the industrial salvage yards created by the dismantling of U. S. industry, in auctions of out moded farm implements, and at flea markets where consumer goods no longer wanted for their original purpose may be found. When seeing something designed purely for function, the inherent beauty of the successfully engineered object speaks to and inspires Anderson. The integrity of these objects and their ability to evoke past purpose makes their reuse as elements in his artwork all the more rich. Though Anderson continues to visit the past for resource materials, his evolving vision keeps the work fresh.
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