Reece Salinas

Statement

I create stories in metal, whether a love story in the form of a wedding ring or the tale of an abstract idea forged into a sculpture. These are the physical representations of my adventures lived, witnessed or imagined. Aesthetic interpretations of these narratives, combined with the rawness of form & texture, are at the core of my art. The cross-pollination of sculpture and jewelry, the elements of one medium spilling over into the other, the form & essence created during one body of work becomes re-worked & is evolved in the other. All pieces are produced by hand, using ancient techniques that are centuries old. This creative process becomes an interaction between my ideas, my hands, metal, stone, and even the wearer’s body.

Artworks

This wearable sculpture pays homage to several artworks by M.C. Escher. His mathematically inspired pieces are captivating to me. I have spent hours contemplating the ins-and-outs of his surreal environments, fanaticizing about what it would be like to actually walk up & down one of his mind-boggling staircases or to be able to see everyday environments transform into the impossible. As I began to work in sculpture and jewelry, I found metal a natural place to explore some of these imaginative ideas in 3d form. This neckpiece, entirely hand fabricated, morphs from staircase into a bird as it wraps around the wearer’s neck.