Tom Price: Where Material Science Meets Sculptural Art

2 days ago7 min read1 comments

Sculptor Tom Price approaches his craft with the inquisitive spirit of a materials engineer, transforming his studio into a vibrant laboratory where industrial and synthetic substances are pushed to their expressive limits. His artistic practice is a radical departure from traditional sculpting, positioning him at the intersection of art, science, and contemporary technology.Price engages in a profound dialogue with his media—repurposing waste, testing polymers, and harnessing the fluid dynamics of heated bitumen and aluminum. Rather than following a predetermined design, each work begins as an open-ended experiment: a question of how material will behave under specific conditions of heat, pressure, or stress.The resulting sculptures—forms that oscillate between the recognizably human and the purely abstract—are the tangible outcomes of this investigative process. They serve as evidence from his ongoing research, challenging conventional hierarchies that separate 'noble' materials like bronze from industrial byproducts.In an age of generative AI, Price’s method offers a compelling physical analogue; he establishes the initial conditions, but the material itself, with its inherent properties and unpredictable reactions, generates the final, often stunning, form. His work compels a re-evaluation of consumer culture, material waste, and the latent narratives within everyday objects.Figures that seem to glitch or emerge imperfectly from synthetic blocks speak to the human condition within a manufactured world. For those fascinated by algorithmic emergence, Price's sculptures provide a tangible connection to the creative potential of collaborative processes. They stand not as static objects, but as frozen dialogues—artifacts that invite us to discover the profound stories hidden in the very substances that shape our lives.

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