Joe Norman

Over the past several years, I have been interested in creating public sculptures that show different images or words depending on the direction they’re seen. I believe that having two ideas coexist in a single piece is a useful metaphor for the ecosystem of ideas that public art empowers and protects. I particularly like taking two ideas that I previously thought were mutually exclusive, yet in fact may not be. In the past I’ve combined the words Story/Truth , Fear/Love , and images of people and migratory animals into single sculptures. In this sculpture I’m using the words HOPE and RAGE . My intent is to use the scale of the sculpture and interaction between these two words to understand our connection with them. I think we can feel HOPE and RAGE at the same time, yet each is a tool with its own uses and pitfalls. I believe true resilience is similar to the relationship between a jockey and racehorse; it is a fine balance that allows a thundering success or a catastrophic failure. Perhaps it is in between these two emotions that we find our stability.

Several years ago I was thirsty, sunburned, and lost in San Juans of southern Colorado. This sculpture is inspired by an elk hip bone I found while sitting on a rock, thinking about the thin veil between myself and the scattered leftovers of this animal spread around me. To build it, I used metal shaping techniques borrowed from the custom motorcycle fabrication world, and sanded the paint to accentuate the various layers of color.