CON BRILLO

Con Brillo came several years after Precarious, a sculpture I made early in my career when nearly everything about being an artist felt precarious. Both works feature Andalusian horses balanced on a circle, but by the time I made Con Brillo, something had shifted.

The horse performs the Spanish Walk with confidence and flourish. I had begun to feel that same freedom in my work, allowing more joy, play and expression into the process.

The title began with the musical term con brio, meaning “with vigor” or “with spirit.” I accidentally rendered it in Spanish as Con Brillo, which felt somehow perfect for an Andalusian. Brillo carries its own sense of brightness and brilliance, and the title stayed.

PRECARIOUS

Precarious took several forms over the course of the edition. The original base was fabricated from rebar, following the loose, tangled lines of my initial sketch. Only one was made that way.

From there, I began using found wagon-wheel tires. I loved the history held in the old steel, the worn edges, dents, scratches and other marks accumulated through years of use. Found gears were added to some of the bases, giving them an almost steampunk quality.

As old wagon-wheel tires became increasingly difficult to find locally, I discovered a wheelwright nearby who makes and repairs wagons. He began fabricating new steel tires for me using the traditional dimensions of a wagon wheel: a three-foot-diameter circle of half-inch-thick steel.

That is the form I continue to use today.