Exalt in Transmission: David McCracken

“These works are derived from my experiences as a young working man in marginal rural New Zealand and in other, usually male-dominated working environments. I noticed how working men found and expressed respect for their fellow man through appreciation of their craft and skill, as represented by the objects and edifices of the made environment. As a maker, this remains essential to me; that the quality of your work can be a symbol of respect for your fellow man.

The flexible belts that these are loosely based on are archetypal mechanical disruptors. As engineers managed to reconcile the conflicting demands of flexibility, precision and durability, they dislodged a raft of technologies. They are themselves increasingly dislodged as emergent technologies arise, and it was as discarded components that I discovered them, immediately drawn to the italicized, cursive beauty of the forms, albeit an elegance they could not achieve when pressed into their intended purpose.

There is also the beginning of an enquiry into the beauty and complexity of machined mechanical gears. The physics of mechanical gears have a rigorous mathematical precision to them so that the surfaces of meshing teeth never lose contact with each other when they're under load. It is something I have come to see as a metaphor for communication, the need being to maintain contact."

-  David McCracken, Artist Statement, September 2020