Electro-cución

source: arnaldomorales
I am fascinated with the physicality of low-tech manual devices and mechanical systems. I am aroused by their shapes, sounds, and gestures, which are beautiful descriptions of their own functions. Industrial materials—stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, plastics, and rubbers—seduce me. Artifacts of disappearing industry, I find strange and beautiful shapes in their debris that allude to sexual operations, violent actions, mysterious purposes. Their potential triggers my thought process.

My work is interactive. My pieces look dangerous, but once you understand what they do, I need your complicity. A collaborative audience is the most important component of my installations. My work seeks to build a dialogue with the viewer through participation. I try to give you something that I know you want, but in the shape of a dare. I play with the meanings of fear, desire, ambition, and pleasure. I explore the concepts of crime and punishment, and the seven deadly sins. I try to provoke you, confront you, disarm you, fascinate you, panic you, and then embrace you. You have to do something, give something, meet me halfway. It’s your responsibility, too.

In a certain way, my art is aggressively political in that it addresses basic situations between people. With each scientific advance, inevitable social and political alienation has resulted. My work notes the implications of an ever-changing technology by re-inscribing primary human interactions. However, until a viewer activates my work, it is just beautiful but ultimately meaningless sculpture.

-Arnaldo Morales