2 x 3.8 x 0.15 cm
Bronze, 18K gold fused, 24K gold electroplate
Please avoid touching the front. The patina is a thin film of oxides analogous to a butterfly wing and should be treated with similar care.
Grant M. Skerlec is a geologist by profession with no formal training in the arts. A Princeton PhD, he has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Oberlin College and ExxonMobil's Research Center. He has spent the last 40 plus years exploring for oil and gas in most parts of the world.
During that time he has worked in precious metals, stone and clay. He applies the traditional techniques of lithography to precious metals. The textures and draughtsmanship invite inspection under a hand lens. What is a simple, strong, sculptural form seen from across the room blossoms into a wealth of complexity and beauty as the textures unravel at close range.
His most recent work, as does his life, straddles science and the arts. Geologically inspired imagery is transferred to bronze and gold. Fractal patterns ranging from the scale of pebble, boulder, cliff and mountain to images of the earth, moons and planets from space, reflect ancient surfaces and form worked by thermal cycles, ice, wind and rain over lengths of unimaginable time.
His work uses torch and acids, a host of resists, aquatint, dry point, metals etched by acids running, dripping and splattering to create precious objects of bronze and gold.
He has lived for many years in Venezuela, England and Norway. He now spends much of his time at an off grid cabin, high in the North Cascades, that he and his wife have built for two cats.