Known for his work in African and Cambrian black granite, artist Jonathon Prince has broadened his visual inquiry through a vanguard technique of “tearing steel.” He begins by reducing the steel to its most elemental state: the more basic the shape, in his words, “the more past and future seem indistinguishable.” In the TORN STEEL series, represented in the permanent collection by Prince’s Vestigial Block, he creates the tears by laboriously hand-working the steel to create an undulating and softly reflective surface. The stainless steel lies in stark contrast to the un-worked, oxidized steel, positing a narrative of a form still in evolution. This piece was made in 2011 of Cor-Ten and stainless steel.
(Source: Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum)