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Brandon Waterman
USA
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“My work takes a deep dive into the complex, often surprisingly nuanced relationships people have with technology.”
Brandon Waterman is a sculptor in Sonoma, California, who utilizes a wide variety of materials and methodologies that span from the pre-historic to modernity; the same sculpture may contain marble carved with a hammer and chisel as well as digitally sculpted, 3D printed parts.
Talosse | Stone
$9,000
26 X 9
Talosse is a re-interpretation of the Ancient Greek myth of Talos, the first automaton. She emerges from digitized forms, which were sculpted by hand from a reference of procedurally generated cubic forms. This sculpture proposes a harmonious relationship between the human body and the digital world.
In ceramics classes, he would begin making abstract sculptures that combined round and organic forms with rigid, angular ones. There was little thought behind this, it was simply what he found aesthetically pleasing, but over time, with further education and artistic training, this juxtaposition became more specific: the forms of the human body combined with all things industrial and digital. In essence, he deconstructs our pre-conceived notions of what a cybernetic being looks like, and what it means to be one.
Impact | Bronze
$3,000
8.5 X 11
Impact explores the way humanity changes the form and structure of the world around us. We radiate out order and pattern where there were none before, but also imbue an element of chaos.
These notions evolved from cyborgs, androids, and other automatons in pop culture and science fiction, with any given book, movie, or TV show giving its own take on where we should draw the line between human and machine, and how that line might be visualized.
“As a thirteen-year-old boy, I was already unknowingly laying the groundwork for my future body of work.”
He draws inspiration from all of these, reconstructing them through the lens of sculpture and fine art. Brandon distills this imagery into sculpture using the classical training he received at the New York Academy of Art’s MFA program, as well as his background in digital fabrication.
The Reach | Mixed Media
$5,000
72 X 36
The Reach portrays a person who is struggling to hold on to their identity as more and more of their body becomes cybernetic.
A sculpture made as a reminder that sometimes technology can help us to find and recognize the small things that provide beauty to life.
Hand That Feeds | Wire
$1,000
24 X 16
Brandon sees sculpture as an ideal way to depict the cybernetic, as he can create human bodies that are in various stages of either being dominated by technology and the digital world, or bodies that have found balance with these elements. This is done by incorporating different materials into his work and manipulating how these materials interact with each other compositionally and aesthetically.
“The ideologies of the sculptures and the methods used to create them are never in conflict, rather they reinforce one another on both literal and metaphorical levels.”
“As the mechanical, technological, and digital world we’ve created, encroaches further into our minds and bodies, how do we define what makes us human, and how will this relationship manifest itself?”
Natural materials such as clay, stone, or wood are made to represent the unaltered human form, while materials like metal, wire, or plastic represent the mechanical. In some cases, his work also flips this narrative by using synthetic materials like silicone and soldered wire mesh to mimic human flesh.
Cybernetic Flesh | Mixed Media
$400
12 X 12
Cybernetic Flesh represents a more conventional interpretation of a cyborg, where the technology within is only revealed by a wound, and often in a gruesome manner.
The best way to understand Brandon’s work is by the Terminator films, where the antagonists are machines, we only see the machinery underneath the flesh when damage has occurred, and it is almost universally a gruesome sight. By contrast, in the Blade Runner films, machines ride a finer line between victim and villain, and the subtler portrayals of their cybernetic aspects help to convey this nuance.
Leap for Balance | Wire
$1,000
38 X 20
This sculpture portrays a figure who is putting her faith in her own identity, trusting that she will maintain, it as her original body is replaced by a technological one.
Brandon creates sculptures that convey different stages or manifestations of the cybernetic human, without the context of a film or other narrative, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions about whether or not they see harmony, dissonance, or something in between, in any given combination of flesh and machine.
Separation is an interpretation of a common image of cyborgs in pop culture but with a focus on the space between the human and the machine.
Separation | Mixed Media
$800
12 X 8
“Through my sculptures, I show that it is the physical borderline between flesh and machine which often defines whether there is conflict or harmony.”
The Tensions 1-3 | Mixed Media
$1,000
60 X 24
These figures are an exploration of the different ways inorganic forms can affect organic ones, and the emotions this can provoke.
By extension, human flaws may be exacerbated by the incorporation of technology into the body and mind, but it could also pave the way to humanity overcoming problems that we have struggled with for millennia.
These custom 3D printed pieces are restructured photographs, which can take on a life of their own, even with mundane source material.
Heightfields (Custom) | Other
$200
8 X 8
The synthesis of humankind and its creations into one body may produce something beautiful, in all senses of the word, even if its early manifestations are grotesque or profane. It is understandable that this ideal seems far-fetched in a time of uncertainty, but perhaps seeing artistic representations of this transcendence could allow people to hope for it, if just for a moment.
The Spire | Ceramics
$800
24 X 8
An early work that marks the beginning of an exploration of organic and inorganic forms.
“In my recent sculptures, I hope to show that a cybernetic organism has not necessarily lost its humanity, but rather that it has been given new ways to express humanity.”
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