Paul Goodrick - Environmental art and sculpture
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Teachers Sculpture Notes
The Insulators - negative version
The "ghost" Iinsulator sculptures
Framing nature instead of blocking it
Welding the steel tubes to the sides of the steel plate

Summary

This sculpture is the sheet of metal from which the "Insulators" sculpture has been cut. The artist, Paul Goodrick, has positioned it about half a mile away from the "positive" version, so as to create a contrast and comparison. At first the link is not obvious, since attention is focused on the hard steel forms rather than the gaps and spaces. These are "ghost" images, showing presence by absence. It has also been left in its natural form as a steel plate, and nature will therefore take its course more rapidly than it will on the painted Insulator sculptures. In art terms the shapes created by the empty gaps is called "negative space".

It serves two other interesting purposes. The steel shapes and forms are individual sculptures themselves, thus metamorphosing the original electrical insulators even more. On the other hand, the spaces created by the cutting of the shapes have become frames through which nature all around can be seen. In this way the link between made items and natural things is strengthened. It is made from 10 mm steel plate mounted on steel poles set in concrete. The way this was made, by an industrial process - also raises issues about the artist's role. Is something art simply because he designs it - but this has always been the case - the great painting and sculptural masters like Michelangelo often only put finishing touches to their work. Interestingly we speak of this as a single sculpture and of the "positive" version as three sculptures.
Making models (maquettes) from wood and wire
How they were made
The artist developed his ideas from what he saw around him - both nature and industry, in the form of the electricity sub-station. He then did lots of drawings to develop his ideas.
Technical drawing

He made some models out of painted wood and wire which helped him to consider how they would be built. He decided on a durable material and chose steel - an industrial material, but to some extent the negative of the insulator sculpture was a risk. It was not definitely known that the steel plate would remain intact after the insulator sculptures had been cut out by a laser torch. The artist had to make very precise technical drawings, which altered the shape to advantage, since it formalised the outline, making it more symmetrical and suggesting industrial process
Two steel tubes were welded on to the sites of this steel plate sculpture and then set in concrete in the ground. It took four people to carry it along the woodland path to its position. This positive version is on another part of Broad oak Nature Reserve, half a mile away.
Close up - this could be a picture in a frame
Viewing suggestions

Look at the whole sculpture first and try to see it two ways, as a brown, rusty steel plate and then as a series of interesting shaped holes with pictures in them.

Approach it and look through the holes. See how many pictures you can make them frame. Touch the steel, and see if it leaves rust marks on your hands. Surprisingly the laser cutting does not leave a sharp jagged edge like a mechanical or welded cut would leave.
This sawtooth hole frame a tree
Do we look at the holes or the surrounding metal? Which is the sculpture?

Questions and answers
Why is this sculpture brown? It is rusty.
Do you know what was cut out of it? Shapes for another sculpture.
Why is it called "The Insulators"? Because the holes look like them.
What is it made of? Steel.
Is it heavy? Yes, very heavy. It takes four people to lift it.
How was it made and how long did it take? In a factory by laser beam and then it was welded together and brought round here. It took about a week to finish.
Does it look natural? No. Why? Because of its shape and the material it is made from.
Looking through the gaps, what can you see? Trees, the lake, reeds and sometimes swans.
Can you see anything missing - if you have seen the "Positive" version first? The holes on the "positive" should be here as solid pieces in this sculpture.
What colours can you see in this sculpture? Brown and mainly green in the holes.
Why is it positioned among natural things? To act as a contrast and to make us think about the materials it is made of and the world that surrounds nature.
What does this tell us? It tells us things about itself - what it is made of and that it is man made and that organic things are different. It makes us think about where it is.
Is it beautiful? Yes and no. Ask why. Children to give an answer or an opinion.
Will it decay like a flower? No, it is not organic. But the bare metal will make it decay more quickly than the "positive version".
Which part is sculpture - the holes or the metal frame? Both form the sculpture together, but it is really the holes that are the sculpture.

Cast of one of the models for the Insulators

Other related artists' work

Lots of artists use steel for sculpture. Anthony Caro, Anthony Gormley and Eduardo Paolozzi are well-known British ones. Caro often uses plate steel, Gormley designed the Angel of the North, but steel experts built it for him. Holes in sculpture are very important, since the break through the surface and make space important. Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore were the first sculptors to do this deliberately. David Smith, an American Artist, has used welded steel in many ways, including sculpture made from old industrial machinery. Rachel Whiteread makes casts of spaces in things to solidify what we might call "nothing". The sculptor, Paul Goodrick, also took casts of one of the models for this sculpture and he painted them all different colours. These are called "multiples", and many artists use this technique.
Anthony Caro - Steel sculpture