Hydroberg

2027

H55 x 60 x 50 in

H140 x 127 x 153 cm

Forged stainless steel, hand-carved proprietary compound (marine calcite, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, polymer, marble, and epoxy), wood, steel

Hydroberg materializes a precarious balance between force and ephemerality. A warped, skeletal grid of rusted steel forms the underlying structure, its lines bent and irregular. From this armature a dense mineral mass rises and sprawls, heavily encrusted with highly polished prima materia — turquoise, lapis lazuli, amethyst, seashells, and coral in shifting azure hues.

These clusters of terrestrial minerals undergo constant, subtle shifts in cyan quality, moving between yellow-green and deeper cobalt blue in response to the temperature of light. The color spectrum remains elusive and glowing within the dense mass.

A large, satin-finished white brain coral rests at the upper part of the blue mineral mass. It mediates between the encrusted gemstone body and the underlying armature of industrial steel pipe (painted white) and raw pine wood at the base. Smaller coral fragments are fused and melded into the blue surface, their original contours left partially intact in varying degrees.

Forged, wrinkled plates of rusted steel sit across the upper structure. Their powdery, vivid orange surfaces contrast sharply with the high-polished gemstones while optically mediating between the fluid stainless forms and the encrusted blue body. Forged, satin-finished stainless steel elements extend outward in fluid, crumpled gestures; their reflective surfaces and draping forms create a sense of arrested motion, as if caught mid-flow. Despite the density of its materials, the sculpture carries an unexpected visual lightness. Supported by a low, three-legged armature that nearly disappears beneath the mass, it continues the structural and draping concerns first explored in Wind (2016). The exact underlying structure holds a body that reads as accumulated rather than organized around a single dominant view. Geological and industrial elements remain distinct while being held within the same physical structure.