Joe Pogan

Joe Pogan is a welder who creates animal sculptures out of 'found metal'. He gained his experience as he is a mountain bike frame welder by trade. He is relevant to my project as he also creates work especially for certain clients by commission, and hence forth has to interact with them. They send him the scrap metal they want to be used in the sculpture, then they sort out between them what sculpture/shape they want, and the size etc. However he only creates fish sculptures for clients as they are a good size to hide interesting items in. He uses things such as old watches, nuts and bolts, and anything unusual and interesting.
He says the originality of his work is from the way he hides these found objects over the sculpture for the client to discover. This is his goal, to achieve a model that is unique and eye-catching with many interesting objects to find. This also ties in with my work to do with sustainability, as all the materials used are scraps so hence are being re-used instead of wasted. He is able to use any objects he wants as he fills the gaps between the metal pieces with a special blending technique so that the sculpture looks solid.
I think Pogan’s work is extremely unique and original as the idea has not been done before in the main-stream, in the way that he creates the items with such detail and precision, and also in how he allows certain pieces to be sent to him to be included in the piece. It’s a very refined art and most people/welders would be unable to create the same amount of detail in their work as Pogan, as well as how he has the talent of making the subject matter very clear.
Reflecting on this research I think this could be a good idea to use for my interactive project, as I would be creating a new piece from old used materials. He is my favourite practitioner that I have researched as I like his style of work best. I think the way he creates new objects from scrap material is so different to previous work using the same method that it really stands out. His work is really stylized, and very unique and that's what I think any sculptor or artist should strive for.

Source: http://www.joepogan.com/