Incollect Magazine - Issue 11

Incollect Magazine 23 The handmade feeling is critical to the designs. While the welds are as neat as the artist can make them, he says, there are invariably some natural irregularities that occur as two pieces of metal are heated and then joined together. “The process I use is called TIG welding — it’s an electric arc process with a torch and then a filler rod is inserted into the joint between the surfaces,” he explains. “It’s quite tricky to begin with because there are many variables to keep in mind, but once you’ve been doing it for a while it becomes natural, a little bit like drawing or perhaps sewing fabric together.” Mayor cites as among his influences the American atmospheric sculptor Lee Bontecou, especially for his sculptural wall pieces, as well as the furniture of Paul Evans. “These two artists show their process in the final work,” he explains. “With Evans the welding is a part of the texture of a piece, and with Bontecou the frame is as important as what is in between.” He is also a big fan of the raw and punk sensibility of Austrian artist Franz West, a pioneer of welded metal sculpture and furniture. “His sensibility was a bit more chaotic and he didn’t value craft per se, but he inspired me to see the possibilities of welding.” Studying at the Royal College helped make Mayor aware of the creative process and the idea of trying to find a way to document the process of making an object within the work itself. “To me that is important in order to understand the piece,” he says. “When you emphasize the process, the actual craft involved in making, welding a piece, showing how it was made, it takes on another, deeper dimension.” Functionality is never sacrificed in pursuit of the concept he says. “Ultimately, I need people to be able to live with my work comfortably every day. I am a maker, so I want to make things people enjoy and that hopefully make people pause and maybe even be a focal point in a room. But it has to be something that is livable — that is the bottom line.” Bird Sculpture. Courtesy Twentieth Gallery and Gallery Elle. Photo: Atossa Kacerovsky, Gallery Elle.