Art
Music
#Maskull Lasserre
#octopus
#sculpture
#wood
![a sculpture of two pianos sliced and connected by a carved knotted octopus](https://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/lasserre-1.jpg)
“The Third Octave” (2023). All photographs © Maskull Lasserre, shared with permission
Behind the hammers and pins of most upright pianos is a tough mass of spruce, maple, or mahogany, what artist Maskull Lasserre (previously) refers to as a “secret quantity of strong wooden.”
“I at all times thought this (part) had a dormant potential past its primary supporting function in securing the tuning keys for the piano strings,” he tells Colossal. In one among his most up-to-date works, titled “The Third Octave,” Lasserre investigates this prospect by carving instantly into the again panel of two devices.
The ensuing sculpture connects by way of a tangled, textured knot of octopus tentacles, of which the eight arms correspond to the eight notes of the octaves obtainable throughout the keyboard. Chiseled into the our bodies of each pianos—the proper includes a full of life Minoan-style marine illustration on its floor—the mollusk camouflages a miter joint, or an angled reduce between two items of wooden, that tightly fastens the devices collectively.
Beneath one set of pedals, Lasserre slotted two books to maintain stress on the joint: On Development and Kind by D.W. Thompson and The Quadruple Object by Graham Harman He chosen the texts, which element organic and philosophical programs, respectively, for each their dimension and subject material, which relate to the conceptual framework of his sculpture.
“Most subtly, the octopus dwells in a submerged depth past simple human entry and distant from the tales we inform of it,” the artist explains. “This might equally describe that hidden quantity of matter beneath the floor of a musical instrument that we expect we all know however really holds different unusual and delightful potentials.”
“The Third Octave” additionally evokes his 2015 sculpture “Improbable Worlds,” which carved a tiny wishbone into the middle of a piano. “Like all of my work, this (new) piece was made to reply some query (by way of a bodily syntax) that written/spoken language merely can not,” the artist says, sharing that his items are sometimes dubbed nostalgic. He explains additional:
When I’ve the chance, I gently emphasize that working, in a recent sense, with reclaimed materials—and revealing one thing enduring and everlasting in that—provides an intentional counterpoint to a society preoccupied with discovering solutions exterior what we’re and what we have already got (see AI, new tech., and so on).
Lasserre is at the moment engaged on a big public work in Squamish, British Columbia, which you will discover preliminary pictures of on Instagram.
#Maskull Lasserre
#octopus
#sculpture
#wood
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