Metal Sculptor
Brief info
Floyd is a sculptor of metals working both three-dimensionally and two-dimensionally. He is drawn to representing nature in metal, and has been exploring the tradition of landscape painting using non-traditional materials and techniques. His most recent work focuses on interpretations of landscapes using steel and stainless steel as mountains, lakes, and trees. These idyllic mountain or lake scenes often emphasize anthropomorphized trees and are created to highlight the physical properties of steel.
Floyd is especially inspired by the tenacity and resiliency of trees as they grow and are formed under constant and relentless stress. The outward appearance and physical structure of trees reveal the nature of prevailing forces upon them. He uses the structure and shape of trees as a metaphor to create portraits that highlight strength despite torturous and prevailing conditions. Rotten stumps, wind-flagged branches, selectively pruned, and wind ravaged trees capture and illustrate the essence of both simple and inexorable forces. These portraits of resilience in the face of ‘prevailing winds’ connect the complicated beauty of a confrontational landscape or sculpture with an unmoving inhabitant.
Initially drawn to use steel, due to its malleable, plastic, and forgiving nature, Floyd continues to use it because of its range of colours and the way light plays off the surface. Polishing, burnishing, sanding, grinding, rusting and heat treatment applied to the steel determine the colour palette, create textures and produce the illusion of depth through the reflection of light. Exploring this cold and industrial material Floyd attempts to reveal a rustic, realistic, and natural narrative.