As we eagerly await the installation of Five Marble Leaves by Claudia Comte, Guest Curator Pedro Alonzo and Curatorial Assistant Inés Maldonado Cabañas unlock the mystery of how an ancient tree, a chainsaw, 3D imaging, and the vision of one artist result in marble forms destined soon for Central Wharf Park.
Inspired by the 24 red and pin oak trees inside Boston’s Central Wharf Park, Five Marble Leaves is meant to awaken our appreciation of the wonders of nature, create closeness with trees, and inspire play, touch, or even a hug. The oak leaves “star-like” shape led to the totemic yet whimsical forms carved from Carrara marble, through a multi-step process that involves hand carving, 3D imaging, and the transformation of marble into majestic and playful sculptures.
The process highlights Comte's interest in a material transformation that connects ancient and contemporary modes of production, as well as the role of the artist's hand in the creation of her work.
Claudia is a skilled chainsaw operator, so the first stage of production consists of hand carving out of ecologically sourced wood (fallen trees) and then smoothing the forms with a graduated system of emery papers.
Comte in the initial stages with chainsaw and fallen trees.
The smoothing and polishing are important steps for the artist’s work, as polishing and waxing highlight and reveal the hidden quality of the material.
To begin turning the wood sculptures into marble, a handheld laser scanner collects digital data to create a highly accurate and detailed 3D image of the piece.
The 3D scans are then transferred to a milling robot that carves the shape of a marble block in Carrara, Italy.
Marble, which symbolizes antiquity and stability for Claudia, is made of microscopic animals that rule the carbon cycle in the ocean, creating the seabed sediment which calcifies over thousands of years in the marble quarries we find today in Carrara.
Finally, the sculptures undergo several stages of sanding and polishing by hand.
Comte with the finished pieces.
Five Marble Leaves is Now + There’s third collaboration with guest curator Pedro Alonzo who brought Oscar Tuazon’s Growth Rings and Jose Davila’s To Each Era Its Art. To Art, Its Freedom. to Central Wharf Park from 2019 to 2022.