Brad Story
Born 1946, Essex, MA, lives and works in Essex, MA
Flying Blind, 2004, carved wood, molded fiberglass with epoxy, acrylic paint, spray lacquers, 63” x 55” x 35”, Lent by the Artist
Brad Story utilizes a variety of materials and techniques to create sculptures that dismantle traditional distinctions between animate and inanimate forms. With academic training in art, professional experience as a boat builder, and lifelong interests in flight and birds, Story produces sculpture that draws on many facets of his experiences. In particular, Story’s twenty-seven years building boats before beginning his Aerodreams sculpture honed his engineering skills and prepared him to work in wood, epoxy, Fiberglas™, and a number of composite materials. This combination of media allows Story to construct translucent and opaque shapes that together allow for a dynamic movement of light through and across the sculpture.
While neither animal nor machine, Story’s work simultaneously incorporates elements of birds, airplanes, and boats. These hybrid creatures remind the viewer of dream imagery and the fantastical forms of the Surrealists. When currents of air propel the suspended pieces into motion and augment the play of light through the sculpture, the movement of the polymorphous forms creates a continuous visual metamorphosis between animal and machine structures. Story’s composite sculptures encourage the exploration of overlaps between technology and organic life and ultimately question conventional boundaries.
