more acute sense of the absurd, modified that to the Sliding Pair of Ducks. Some vocabulary ava ilable to me I don't understand: like a straight line; like a perfect circle; like a flat surface. These things make me very uncomfortable. They are unforgiving. They are too easy and authoritarian. They are unfree—the Western Box which imprisons us. But an almost straight line can be exquisitely beautiful, like the curve of the ocean as viewed from an eye of beach sand. Or juxtapose an egg and a perfect sphere. The egg imp lies some th ing more — something before and after it. The sphere has no time to easy enough to construct. But I wouldn't want to lie down and put my body next to it. A machinist/philosopher who, in my younger days I thought very wise, used to say: "Poor man(kind). Whencolder. However, if they are both at the same temperature above body heat, the meta! w i l l fee l warmer. Metals have a large number of free electrons which make them good conductors of heat and electricity, . .jf Being an anarchist at heart I identify with the free electrons. Unfortunately, however, over the years the free electrons have iden tified with me, and I have suffered , from varying states of metal po ison ing- bronze-founders' ague. was as adornment and in ob- =cts of a spiritual/aesthetic ature. Originally these were restricted to the ruling aristocracy. The utilitarian function came next but because few knew how to work metal, its use was still restricted to the wealthy: goblets, beakers, containers, adornment and a and use of iron, and its abun- B dance and greater hardness (compared to bronze) led to conquering armies with su- perior weapons, and the profane, paradox. For me no th ing more nearly approaches a religious experience than pouring molten bronze (at 2,000°F) from a crucible into a mold. Since it is difficult to maintain in this state, the next best things is to have the bronze around, solidified in the form of a piece of sculpture, in a temporary state of potential transition. hen he was abou t seven years old I gave my son some wax to play with and showed him how to heat and work it. I told him that whatever he made in wax I would cast into metal for him. He worked away silently, alone, for several hours. I expected the leg ib le impression of LOVE. Swear to God. I had no idea what he was making. He still has the metal versions o f a l l three. Today, at 23, he has a heavy metal rock band in the Bay Area. Carrying on the tradition. Blending the soft and the hard? Minnie, a friend of mine, once told me, "I just hate all my friends." She was wrestling with an interesting paradox. Another artist friend, Helen, recently said to me, "Reality just isn't the same anymore." Not-only was she having difficulty with the paradoxes but they were sliding on her. There is a definite absurdity about trying to be.an artist in a Society which worships primarily money and power. Such absurdity used to intrigue me. However, absurdity isn't as much fun as it used to be. Most of our choices have grave consequences. There is E.P. (Electronic Poet)—1986, SW 10th & Morrison, Portland am striving for an image which is both too simple and too complex, something which takes an intuitive leap to comprehend. I want to illuminate the numinous. ever he gets in trouble or lost he goes running back to nature." He implied that this was not only pathetic but stupid. But then, machinist that he was, a straight line and p e r fe c t c irc le we re his longing. A poet friend of mine asks, "But why metal?" I think she sees it on ly as hard and heavy and dead. Tome metal is so versatile and ubiquitous that the reasons seem obvious. Of the 112 known Untitled—1976, SW Corbett, Portland Artist Keith Jellum lives and works in Sherwood, Oregon, just south of Portland. This story was produced with financial assistance from the Oregon Arts Commission. chemical elements about 65 are meta l, ha lf-m e ta l or near-metal. Metal is unique in its flexibility. The alloying of different metals and near-metals with the application of heat yields wondrous contradictions and possibilities in the same substance: hard and soft; solid and liquid; dull and glossy. Metal can exh ib it amazing strength and extreme fragility (indium is not strong enough to support its own weight); it can be exceedingly plastic and utterly brittle. If you have a block o f metal and a block of wood both at the same temperature below 37°C, our body temperature, the metal will feel few axes and knives. As the knowledge of working metal began to spread along with the discovery of different alloying techniques and methods for achieving higher temperatures, the u t i l ita r ian function grew. For thousands of years, copper, gold and silver dominated the metal scene. The use of forced air into the fire and higher temperatures led to the discovery him to come up with a little cat or maybe a primitive car or truck. When he was finished he brought me three objects: a dagger; a ring with a very sharp point on it; and a set of wax 'brass knuckles' with the word love spelled out backwards, such that whatever softness was struck by them, they would leave TYPICAL COMPOSITIONS OF COMMON COPPER ALLOYS Bronze: 90% copper, 10% tin (harder than pure copper) Brass: 70% copper, 30% zinc (harder than bronze) Red Brass: 85% copper, 5% each—tin, lead, zinc (faucets, sculpture alloy) Silicon Bronze: 93% copper, 7% silica (replacing red brass as sculpture material) Tumbago: Copper, gold (in use by South and Central American Indians when Spanish arrived) Monel Metal: 65% nickel, 35% copper Pewter: 91% tin, 7% antimony, 2% copper an u n d e n ia b le ho liness about life that needs to be addressed. Homage must be paid to the lurking spirits. My work is my homage. 30 Clinton St. Quarterly
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