Created with CNC cut metal pieces after designing a vector file, then welded together.
This metal monkey chain started as a simple impulse to recreate something I played with as a kid, but translating it into steel changes the whole tone of the gesture. Pulling the chain vertically is meant to create a small moment of wonder of “wait, how is that standing?”, similar to the reaction when a long chair of monkeys was created in the original game, only now in a more aggressive format of metal. The pile of monkeys at the base is also messy to mimic the kind of tangle you’d actually find in someone’s house. The more fun vertical structure appears to grow out of that casual chaos, the same way I hope certain parts of whimsy childhood will follow into adulthood. The way the material is handled is meant to pull the piece together, where the rough cuts in the metal make the monkeys feel handmade and abrasive instead of polished. This contrasts the manufactured feel of the original game to sharpen the contrast between the playfulness of the form and the seriousness of the material.
Yale ART1521 Metal Sculpture, Professor Lili Chin
