Portrait of Mass Ascending by David McCracken for SCAPE Public Art Season 2016

Auckland-based David McCracken contributed a suite of works for the Season; the first was Portrait of Mass Ascending in Christ’s College Quadrangle. The work reflected the artist’s keenness to interrogate and transform pedestrian materials and objects into commanding and curious sculptural forms. Portrait of Mass Ascending pushed the form of a vertical column, which has a long history in the language of sculpture, and public sculpture in particular. This one appeared to be reaching upwards, with fissures emerging as its mass stretched, as if it were composed of soft clay. This is illusory, as the sculpture was made from very hefty and rigid materials, welded corten and stainless steel. The ‘portrait’ in the title strengthens the reference to a standing human form, although the appearance of the work is abstract. McCracken is a highly skilled maker, intrigued by exploring the distinct properties of metals, and properties of geometry and scale.