Time and Tide No. 7
2020
Todd Campbell
Seattle, WA, USA
18 x 12 x 0.75 inches
found and salvaged rusted iron objects, pottery, stone, glass slag, vitreous glass
There are stretches of the Washington coastline where chunks of rusted metal frequently wash ashore. Sometimes it’s not hard to tell what they were before time and tide did its work: flange, bolt, gear, hinge. Often, though, it’s easy to imagine that what’s been stranded on the beach is part of the fossilized remains of some ancient beast: scapula, maybe, or tendon, or talon.
To me, there is something irresistible about these remnant pieces, both as material and metaphor. Roughhewn yet fragile, they speak of impermanence and the possibility of finding meaning and renewal in the ruined foundations of what has come before. For the last few years, this material and the mystery it contains has been central to much of my work.