Antelumpen
Zachary Coffin
Artist Statement
The transformation of passive viewer into active participant is one of my goals. I seek to energize space with kinetic, highly-engineered, large scale, and interactive sculpture. Conceptually, my works are explorations of zoomorphic forms, physical forces, and mechanical concepts rendered large in steel and stone. Some explore the physical and universal forces of mass, gravity and inertia. Others, like the work Antelumpen are zoomorphic and anthropomorphically inspired abstractions designed to pique the interest and tease preconceived notions of form and function. I use scale, material, engineering and mechanics to build art for people using the language of giant machines. Antelumpen is a play on words. Firstly, it is a zoomorphic sculpture. I conceived of it and started building it in NYC, then shipped the pieces to Atlanta for a few years while I went to San Francisco. I found myself finishing the work in the most unlikely of places, Birmingham Alabama, in a giant functioning rock quarry on the site of a former iron foundry and coke furnace. I got a glimpse of what labor and social relationships were like when Marx coined the term lumpenproletariat …