Asabikeshiinh Aeris (Bronze Dreamcatcher) is a small but incredibly significant bronze sculpture: a highly innovative casting process was developed to facilitate the manufacture of intricate objects that were previously impossible to cast using traditional processes. Asabikeshiinh Aeris embodies a fusion of age-old artisan techniques with the technological advancements of today.

The original sculpture was made of Turritella seashells, where cross sections of the shells are created by using a belt sander to sand two sides of the shells. Various small hand files are then used to further shape the shells before being bound together with fluorocarbon. The original sculpture was then 3D scanned, leading to a 3D print at VoxelJet ; the final sculpture is then made using LBE’s innovative casting processes. 

Sara Roberts writes that Mersh’s ‘process is labour-intensive, involving the hand-assembly of many thousands of individual components, selected for their specific sculptural qualities when used en masse and in organic, extensive ways. He uses responsibly-sourced materials, ranging from windowpane oyster shell discs, and dentalium shell, with all its natural variation and idiosyncracy, through to sticks manufactured in wood with a coating of marble dust. The works raise inevitable questions about value: some of the shells were traditionally used as currency or sacred wealth, and leather components associated with luxury brands imply a premium; but the real worth here is delivered by the artist’s unique and dedicated vision in unlocking the creative power of these strange components. Their sheer numbers are evocative of ruffled patterns in nature – the layering of feathers, the disturbed nap of animal fur, accretions of coral, the tentacles of sea anemones. Undulations, peaks and troughs, in reality fixed, are animated by the movement of the eye across their eddying and swirling terrain, implying life, an internal energy beneath the surface.’

Rowan Mersh is an English multi-media sculptor. His sculptures have been acquired by major private and public collections worldwide, most notably the Victoria & Albert Museum, Jerwood, The Crafts Council & Royal Musuems Greenwich. His commissions and special projects include works for the Mercury Music Prize, Fendi and Veuve Clicquot. Mersh was born in Dorset and studied Art & Design at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth; a BA in Multi-Media Textiles at Loughborough University (2003) and an MA Mixed Media Constructed Textiles at the Royal College of Art, 2005. 

Rowan Mersh was selected by Open Call.

ROWAN MERSH

‘ASABIKESHIINH AERIS’

Bronze

13cm x 19cm x 14cm (HWD)

Lockdown N.1 - 2020

Edition of 4

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