In 2006, the sculptor Douglas Tausik Ryder heard that an obsolete 5-axis router was being sold in North Carolina, by a company who manufactured aluminium aircraft parts. The machines had fallen out of use – replaced by faster, new technologies – so the machine wasn’t expensive. There was a problem, though: it weighed 16,000 lbs and was the size of a room.
Ryder was determined to master the machine however, and to apply it to his art. ‘This undertaking plunged me into two years of trial and error, frustration, midnights in my studio, and despair,’ the told us. The machines have a cutting tool controlled by G-code: a programming language controlled numerically, and which allows people to instruct automated tools to build things. ‘I find it very interesting that an object can be described as a code, and the code remain the same though the object be big or small, made of wood plastic or metal, etc.’
As far as anyone knows, Ryder is the only person using the machine to make sculptures in this way. It allows him to create objects of any complexity and size, and on any scale and at any speed he wants. His process does still demands some more conventional woodworking and metalworking skills – like using his bare hands – but machines have the potential to do things no body can muster. ‘It might be possible one day to fully automate the making of art using AI, so the possibility exists that my studio could go on after my death.’
Installation view of ‘Metamorphosis’ at Jason Vass
The resulting bronze and wood sculptures are the results of a process that is both digitally programmed with mathematical process, and a more intuitive way of sculpting. This dyadic process also perfectly reflects the sculptor’s conceptual ideas. ‘There is always present in my work a struggle between the geometric (the pure, the ideal, timeless) and the body (flawed, mortal).’ He told explains. ‘An object begins in a dream. It is a figure, a person or archetype in my life. A series of operations occurs on the figure, for example, stretching, pulling, hollowing, etc. These operations are an intersection of a geometric form with the figure.’
Despite his fascination with technology, the clue to achieving the perfect geometric balance might come from a more primordial place: a woman’s body. This manifests itself beautifully in Venus (2015) — inspired by the sculptor’s pregnant wife, with formal references to the spherical sculptures of the Venus figures in Paleolithic times, by Willendorf and Lespugue.
‘Working with a figure in my studio, I imagined its belly enlarged and rounded into a 5ft diameter ball.’ After playing around with various shapes, Ryder says, ‘Then it came to me – the form to express the feelings and ideas that came from contemplating this child growing inside, must be the perfect geometry of a sphere.’
He adds, ‘I visualised the space inside the mother figure as a sphere and expanded this space until it intersected the deep concave curves of the mother figure and created openings. This is how all the openings were made. The unfilled sphere remains inside as an idealised space.’
Installation view of ‘Metamorphosis’ at Jason Vass
INFORMATION
‘Metamorphosis’ is on view until 26 February. For more information, visit the Jason Vass website
ADDRESS
Jason Vass
1452 E 6th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021
-
You may know it as ‘Dirty House’ – now, The Rogue Room brings 21st-century wellness to ShoreditchThe Rogue Room – set in the building formerly known as Dirty House by Sir David Adjaye, now reinvented by Studioshaw – bridges wellness and culture in London's Shoreditch
-
A local’s guide to Paris by Art Basel newcomer Ash LoveVisual artist Ash Love shares their essential addresses in the French capital as the city hosts the art fair’s fourth edition
-
The Alfa Romeo Junior and the ups and downs of modern automotive brand buildingCompact, sporty and neat, with over a century of heritage to contend with, the Alfa Romeo Junior is a flawed but fascinating EV
-
Jamel Shabazz’s photographs are a love letter to Prospect ParkIn a new book, ‘Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025’, Jamel Shabazz discovers a warmer side of human nature
-
The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles launches the seventh iteration of its highly anticipated artist biennialOne of the gallery's flagship exhibitions, Made in LA showcases the breadth and depth of the city's contemporary art scene
-
Thomas Prior’s photography captures the uncanny fragility of American lifeA new book unites two decades of the photographer’s piercing, uneasy work
-
Central Park’s revitalised Delacorte Theater gears up for a new futureEnnead Architects helmed an ambitious renovation process that has given the New York City cultural landmark a vibrant and more accessible future
-
Stephen Prina borrows from pop, classical and modern music: now MoMA pays tribute to his performance work‘Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise’ recalls the artist, musician, and composer’s performances, and is presented throughout MoMA. Prina tells us more
-
Curtains up, Kid Harpoon rethinks the sound of Broadway production ‘Art’He’s crafted hits with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus; now songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon (aka Tom Hull) tells us about composing the music for the new, all-star Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’
-
Richard Prince recontextualises archival advertisements in TexasThe artist unites his ‘Posters’ – based on ads for everything from cat pictures to nudes – at Hetzler, Marfa
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekAnother week, another flurry of events, opening and excursions showcasing the best of culture and entertainment at home and abroad. Catch our editors at Scandi festivals, iconic jazz clubs, and running the length of Manhattan…
