Perpetual Reciprocal
2025
used wood, motor, used mechanical components, foam, used glove, plaster cast chisel
Perpetual Reciprocal (2025) discusses perpetuity, labor, and futility through the repetition and movement of a machine. The machine looks and feels tired, like it is both cobbled together and about to fall apart, but still never wavers in its task. Its endurance is evidenced by the growing pile of dust. The plaster chisel repeatedly crumbles as it strikes the ground, yet the machine persists, even in the face of continuous, even never-ending struggle.
Perpetual Reciprocal uses a machine doing a repetitive, futile task to illustrate alienation of labor and Sisyphean themes. The sculpture uses a beaten, used work glove to hold a plaster cast chisel and endlessly chip away at the gallery floor. The plaster erodes as it strikes the ground, damaging itself more than its target, and producing no tangible effect. This task is pointless, evidenced by the pile of dust and broken chunks of previous chisels. The gears grind and the machine’s arm struggles to pick up its load, communicating to the viewer an element of fatigue unusual to see in a machine. The gears and motor used may normally be seen in industrial machinery, where their movement is strong and unwavering, but this machine is clearly exhausted and unhappy with its task. Still it continues on, forever performing its meaningless duty.