NoHo art gallery, [The Hole](http://theholenyc.com/2019/11/30/stephen-somple/), presents the first solo show of the artist, Stephen Somple, on view through February 16th, 2020. Somple explores facets of physics in the exhibition titled “Linear Momentum,” with wall works, floor works, and pigment paintings. Mesmerized by the synergy of shape and form, Stephen discusses the creation of his three-dimensional objects.
**_What fascinates you about the interaction between shape and form?_**
Early in my artistic education, I became fascinated with the seven compositional elements, the idea that any work of art could be broken down and discussed in terms of line, shape, form, value, color, pattern, and texture. This simple idea lodged itself in my brain, and later, I latched onto the idea of isolating these categories as a way of organizing my practice. My sculptural work begins with chance-based interactions between flat sheets of metal dented by three-dimensional forms. For me, It's the moment of impact, the actual interaction that holds the most fascination. This is where something new and unexpected is created. A record of contact between unrelated parts. A synthesis.
**_After the completion of these works, what did you learn about force, impact, intention, and chance with the creation of three-dimensional objects?_**
I learned to fabricate with metal by working for a silversmith. One of the most basic skills for any metalsmith is hammering a bowl from a flat sheet of metal. The hammer has a curve to it that compresses the metal, and as you work from the center of the sheet in a spiral toward the outside, the flat sheet raises into a dome. When you're done, you have a bowl with a unique pattern of thousands of hammer marks. For the sculptural works in this show I wanted to push this process of force, impact and intention into a single performative moment that still produced an object. The impetus to create these objects definitely came from a place of curiosity and exploration, but in the end, I don't know that I learned something as much as I experienced something. Or maybe the analogy would be that I translated something (its own type of learning, I guess) by taking an expression from the language of craft and applied art and restating it in the language of sculpture and performance. I think the sculptures, as the record and product of this experience, stand for themselves.
**_What's the meaning behind the work entitled, 'Dudd Stack?'_**
I wanted the Dudd Stack to be a sort of anchor for the rest of the work in the show, a way of locating what the work is and is not trying to accomplish. Donald Judd has always been an important figure to me, and I wanted this piece to honor that influence but, at the same time, engage in a dialogue with some of his core ideas. In general, I think my work could be seen almost as an inverse of Judd's intentions for his stacked sculptures. Where he made decisions about composition and structure and then had the work fabricated by others for a perfect, industrial finish, my work welcomes chance into the composition but is fabricated entirely by myself in a way that acknowledges my background in craft and the traditional metal arts. At the same time, the work is firmly located in the aesthetic of minimalism and the non-symbolic, democratic composition that Judd helped pioneer.
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