Hawkinson, Möbius Ship, 2011
California-based artist Tim Hawkinson is known for taking
everyday materials and altering them in imaginative ways, creating works that
address broad issues about the intersection of human consciousness, nature and
technology. Here, he employed a mix of found objects and common household
materials—including twist ties, craft wood, staples, and packing material—which
he transformed almost alchemically into a complex and awe-inspiring sculpture.
Echoing the working methods of ship-in-a-bottle hobbyists,
Hawkinson created a painstakingly detailed model ship that twists in upon
itself, presenting the viewer with a thought-provoking visual conundrum. The
title is a witty play on Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, which famously
relates the tale of a ship captain’s all-consuming obsession with an elusive
white whale. The ambitious and imaginative structure of Hawkinson’s sculpture
offers an uncanny visual metaphor for Melville’s epic tale, which is often
considered the ultimate American novel.
Möbius Ship also humorously refers to the mathematical
concept of the Möbius Strip. Named after a nineteenth-century astronomer and
mathematician, the Möbius Strip is a surface that has only one side, and exists
as a continuous curve. Its simple yet complex spatial configuration presents a
visual puzzle that parallels Hawkinson’s transformation of the mundane
materials into something unexpected.
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