Thursday, April 12, 2012

Creative genius

Forrest Mc Cluer's Computer Virus #1
Floppy (2009)
This is based on a hybrid of T4 Bacteriophge and Adenovirus
I'd like to invite you to experience the creative genius of  Forrest Mc Cluer, economist by day and sculptor by night.  Forrest's collection of sculptures is comprised of three-dimensional "manipulations of  'found' objects into certain geometric shapes or polyhedra."  The shapes that Forrest replicates are found in nature and have fascinated artists and scientists for centuries.  His website, documents his ongoing project to deconstruct 30 discarded personal computers and then create sculptures from all of their constituent parts.  By making these 3D shapes with found objects he aims to "mark our moment in time with materials that would otherwise be disposed of and lost forever."  A 3D alacartegreen dream!

Earrings made from hard drive spacers

I was introduced to Forrest by a friend of the family when hubby donated several hard drives to his cause.  Forrest's up-cycling and creative use of the integral parts of the computers that he is deconstructing, and his detailed use of the parts was intriguing to say the least!  It quickly became evident that his passion goes beyond constructing his sculptures; his meticulous research of microbiology and virology, and mastery of mathematics are clear in the polyhedron shapes and viruses that he sculpts   Forrest writes that:
"It was the self-assembly or self-replication characteristic of biological viruses that influenced University of Southern California doctoral candidate Fred Cohen. He is the person who coined the term "computer virus" to describe a computer program that can "affect other computer programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a (possibly evolved) copy of itself." [2], [3].
Forrest's insightful use of computer parts to construct sculptures of biological viruses, which   computer viruses mimic is pure genius.   

As you can imagine, I was thrilled that the unused hard drives were slated to be up-cycled in such an imaginative, innovative way while simultaneously helping to declutter.   Although there was no need to thank us for the donation of the hard drives, Forrest thoughtfully surprised me and the girls with funky earrings made from spacers from the computer hard drives, and a hysterical "digital pirate" ear loop for the boys.  I can't wait to see the newest sculpture he creates with the hard drives!  If you'd like to see some of Forrest's sculptures up close, check out his work at the upcoming Artomatic Show in Washington, DC on May 18th .

1 comment:

  1. Terrific Forrest!
    I'd buy one of your sculptures if I could!