Title: Metamorphosis
Artist: Rebecca Robinson
Medium & Materials: Hand-carved translucent Italian agate, an antique hand-forged open-end wrench, a blackened steel tension rod, and a raw, hand-chiseled regional green marble plinth
Dimensions: 17" W × 20.5" H × 16" D
This balance-defying contemporary mixed-media sculpture transforms raw structural weight into kinetic grace. An antique industrial open-end wrench becomes the body of a butterfly-like form, gripping two hand-carved Italian agate wings. By bringing industrial rigidity into tension with geological time, the work suspends a delicate silhouette above a rough stone monolith.
Gallery Description
In Metamorphosis, contemporary New England sculptor Rebecca Robinson creates a tactile, multi-planar composition in a commanding vertical tabletop format. The work rises from a substantial angular plinth of unpolished regional green marble. Left raw and hand-chiseled, the stone’s dark olive, moss green, and charcoal-veined facets give the sculpture architectural weight. From the base, a slender curved armature of blackened steel lifts the primary form into a striking illusion of suspension.
The sculpture’s technical and emotional center is the meeting of found object and carved stone. A historic open-end wrench is clamped along the central axis; its deep chocolate-plum patina and pitted surface retain the marks of decades of industrial use.
The rigid tool forms the torso for two wing-like plates of hand-carved Italian agate that fan outward to either side. Robinson splits, grinds, and polishes the stone into sweeping planes that echo the folds of butterfly wings, with precision-drilled circular perforations defining their outer edges. Ambient gallery light passes through the agate’s milky-white, cream, and soft amber veining, giving the wings a luminous, nearly weightless presence. Through precise edge control, careful engineering, and an assured command of material weight, Robinson transforms an industrial relic into a powerful, meditative centerpiece for a fine art collection.
Style & Composition
- Artistic Style: Contemporary material abstraction, kinetic mixed-media realism, and post-industrial assemblage.
- Composition: An asymmetrical vertical arrangement organized around the curved steel armature. A dark industrial core balances the broad horizontal span of the translucent stone wings.
- Focal Point: The central junction where the dark, light-absorbing wrench jaws grip the lower meeting edges of the luminous white-and-cream agate wings.
- Color Palette: A refined neutral spectrum of milky white, soft cream, and warm amber in the wings, contrasted with espresso-charcoal iron, blackened steel, and mottled forest-green marble.
- Lighting & Atmosphere: Direct gallery lighting makes the carved agate wings glow from within and casts soft violet shadows across the green marble base, creating a serene, majestic, and powerful presence.
Application & Stylistic Technique
- Carving & Manipulation: Fine-tool reduction, grinding, smoothing, and polishing shape the brittle Italian agate into fluid, aerodynamic contours that minimize its apparent weight. Precision-drilled perforations add crisp detail along the wing edges.
- Surface Contrast: The glassy polish of the translucent stone contrasts with the pitted oxidation of the historic iron and the coarse crystalline texture of the hand-split green marble.
Mounting & Engineering: Precision core drilling and a continuous internal steel tension rod secure the components through the wrench jaw, preserving structural integrity without visible adhesive
