Scott Lapham
Sicklical Cycle, 2021, Match sticks, wood, glue, Courtesy of the Artist.
Instagram: @slapham64
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Transcript
This is Scott Lapham and I am speaking about the sculpture Sicklical Cycle.
In the last couple of years I started working with wooden kitchen matches as an artistic medium and tool to make sculptures. During this period of time I’ve been thinking about the volatility of so many issues in our culture and society. A translation with the matches into Sicklical Cycle sculpture happened when I started to think about the housing crisis and affordability crisis in my community and nationwide.
The matches themselves are a volatile piece, each piece together has the potential for more volatility. The tens of thousands of matches that are glued together have potentially dangerous energy. The small wooden house structure feels like it’s being thrown around by a river or energy that could become fire. It feels like a cycle of several things: the bust and boom of the housing market, people that can’t get into it, and the unpredictability of these forces. They feel cyclical and challenging. Those were some of the things I had been thinking of over time when I started making this sculpture.