Brass !
2026
Brass rods

Brass ! is a series of brass interventions developed throughout the gallery at The Rigley Field. What began as a practical solution for hanging Christmas ornaments evolved into a collection of sculptural forms and functional elements that extend throughout the space.

The series began with 36-inch brass rods, each measuring one-eighth of an inch in diameter. The rods were friction-fit into holes drilled into wood and drywall, allowing the artist to hang ornaments without introducing additional materials. The solution worked so well that the excess rods became an opportunity for further experimentation.

Using a pair of pliers and a vice grip, the artist began twisting the brass around the tip of the pliers, creating tight, curled forms. These early experiments produced a series of exclamation point-shaped pieces that would eventually serve as hanging mechanisms throughout the gallery.

As the work developed, the brass began to move beyond the walls. Additional rods were fitted into wooden furniture, wrapped around the handles of objects, extended around the legs of chairs and shaped to hold collections of pens or mimic the cable of a telephone. Each intervention emerged from the practical conditions of the space, gradually establishing a material language of its own.

The brass eventually took on a significance beyond its function. The artist began to understand the rods as a physical manifestation of meaning itself: something that appears to emerge from within an object, passing through its surface before curling and taking form in the surrounding environment.

The brass is not applied to represent meaning. It is intended to give meaning a material presence.

Throughout the work, these interventions remain partially concealed within the larger body of work. Visitors are invited to search for the brass, discovering its different forms and applications as they move through the gallery. In doing so, they participate in a search that extends beyond the material itself: an invitation to look for meaning in the objects, relationships and experiences that make up a life.

The brass began as a means of hanging objects. It became a way of making the otherwise invisible visible.