Anvilled Stars at London Science Museum

[David Entwistle]

Perhaps not for the meteorite purist, but according to Culture 24 artist Matthew Luck Galpin will be bringing his Anvilled Stars exhibition to the London Science Museum through until October 2011.

Where most artists might see meteorites as objects to be avoided on their creative paths, Matthew Luck Galpin heats, hammers, grinds and polishes them into something altogether new.

Taking shards which fell in Northern Argentina 6,000 years ago, the intrepid blacksmith completes their journey through heat, cold, lightness and dark by turning them into a dazzling mirrored galaxies, defining his new creations as Anvilled Stars.

Nothing on the Science Museum web site as yet...

[Barwellian]

Hi Dave, All,

I have spent all my life as a practicing artist and lecturing in Art and Design but fail to see how heating up a campo and beating the hell out of it till its flat turns it into art. The final result resembles a slice which I would argue would be the way to go to produce something far more aesthetic with a much deeper message when positioned amongst the artefacts.. perhaps it demonstrates his lack of understanding or perhaps just my lack of understanding about what he is trying to say by doing what he does.

This is what he says....

“His intervention is to shape it again – to shift it beyond its pummelled splinter of iron that spun through the cold dark universe to fall ablaze 6,000 years ago.”

There are darker, more spiritual concepts at play here. Local tribes who witnessed the fall-out named the site Campo Del Cielo (the Field of Heaven), and Galphin is an admirer of the transcendental and seemingly impossible.

His previous works have used white noise recorded in Antarctica, frozen ink and salt water collected at the dead sea and breath collected from light trapped in peoples’ mouths.

He reflects the imperfection of these reformed lumps of metal, and their alien status forces us to reflect, in turn, on the enormity of the universe.

Set in the museum’s Cosmos and Culture and Measuring Time galleries, the emergence of this mysterious installation is timed to coincide with the museum’s summer space season.

.....................................................

Most of my recent own work involves changing existing objects and investigating aspects of time in large scale installations which might be quite challenging for some....but in this particular piece by him I have difficulty seeing how what he has done says any more than a natural slice....it is the context in which they are displayed that seems important to me.

Graham

[MeteoritesEire]

yeah,I can appreciate the work he puts into this to turn the slices into mirrors but would prefer to see the internal crystallisation myself.

what is the flaming product he is pouring over the slice to accommodate the polishing in the second video I'm wondering?

[David Entwistle]

what is the flaming product he is pouring over the slice to accommodate the polishing in the second video I'm wondering?

It'll be pitch, the same as is used in amateur telescope mirror grinding.

[David Entwistle]

I have spent all my life as a practicing artist and lecturing in Art and Design but fail to see how heating up a campo and beating the hell out of it till its flat turns it into art.

Hi,

I tend to agree from what I've seen, but I guess I'd need to see the exhibition to form a fair opinion of the result. On the other hand, I've got a great admiration for the skill shown by the knife master, Guillermo Menodoza San Telmo, shown here.

Artisanal knife maker in Argentina makes a foot long knife out of a meteorite, using traditional techniques taught by his gaucho grandfather.

[David Entwistle]

Perhaps not for the meteorite purist, but according to Culture 24 artist Matthew Luck Galpin will be bringing his Anvilled Stars exhibition to the London Science Museum through until October 2011.

Nothing on the Science Museum web site as yet...

I see from Royal Observatory Greenwich blog that the Anvilled Stars exhibition is now on show there. It must be doing a tour.

There are some pictures, so you can get a better idea of what's on show.