Arttu Halkosaari

Carving Steel

My series focuses on tactility and the experience the viewer gets when they touch my pieces. The physical interaction between my work and the viewer is essential. Having these differently textured sections provide the viewer with multiple ways of exploring my work other than visual. With my work I want to show the possibilities of combining historical techniques and contemporary plasma cutting. A plasma cutter creates an electric arc which melts steel and high-pressure air blasts the molten steel away. I use this method to gouge out material and create texturing to steel.

The texturing brings out a new aspect of steel by having rough looking textures, but still them being surprisingly soft to the hand. It turns hard steel into something that the viewer maybe would not expect.

By using organic shapes, the viewer is given a contrast of shapes and textures between the exterior and the interior. Having movement in my work has always been important to me. The curved shapes give the material movement and the overall shape gives them a direction which is easy to follow with one’s eyes and hands.

The interaction between the viewer and the work is limited in a gallery setting, as the main properties of the work usually focus more in the visual, not tactile. I believe that we should bring back more haptic senses into the world of art and be less restricted with the way of people interacting with our work.