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DAVID BORRUS

By day, welding is the skill David has used to earn a living. His welds conform to the straight lines and right angles of I-beams and concrete. Often he was so focused on the fierce tip of the electrode that he failed to notice the magnificent human and mechanical symphony of the job site happening all around him.


At night in his studio, he can weld figures which express the complex curves and stances of daily life. He can work his TIG torch to create musculature, instruments, and motion. Essentially, he layers beads of molten metal (bronze or steel) in the same way that clay is built up in modeling sculpture. Later he uses a series of grinders to carve, shape, and finish each piece.


Over the past 30 years, he has tried other mediums, but he enjoys working in steel and bronze the best. The internal strength of these materials allows him to capture that instant when a musician is bent over backward to reach a high note in the “midnight ramble” or a gymnast swerving and twisting on the pommel horse.  He continues to work in steel and bronze because he really enjoys welding. He likes the “arcing and sparking” of the grinders and electrodes and the smooth patterns of the orange liquid metal as it follows the blue tip of his torch.

 

His works include dancers, musicians, athletes, construction workers, and Judaica.  He studied foundry and mold-making techniques at Massachusetts College of Art, and has worked steadily in the marine construction industry as a diver, welder, and pile driver for over 30 years.  He creates his sculptures in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he and his wife Amy have lived and raised their two sons, Sam and Gabriel, since 1994.

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