Brad Sells Sculpture

Opposites Attract, an exhibition of the sculptor's new works, along with abstract oils on canvas by Atlanta artist Jean Glenn, opens Thursday, with a reception to be attended by both artists.

A world of materials

Using found or salvaged wood is a common practice among woodworkers; Sells takes this concept one step further by working with protected species with deep cultural meanings. Hawaii's koa tree, for example, was once used for canoes, one giant log hollowed out for each long vessel. Now, the wood is primarily used in surfboards and furniture.

Sells highlights koa's swirling grains in Seed Tree, a vaguely heart-shaped piece in rich, warm brown. A rough hole in one side offers a view into the unpolished yet smooth interior, a matte contrast to the highly polished exterior. The wood used in this piece is estimated to be 200 years old; Sells found it on the volcanic mountain Mauna Kea.

For Sells, the journey to obtain his materials is an essential part of his creative process; his travels have been the subject of two PBS documentaries.

Sometimes, though, the wood comes to him, as was the case with a piece of dark desert ironwood. A friend went through three saw blades trying to cut a piece of the protected species native to the Sonoran Desert of the southeastern United States. The eventually secured sample was transformed into Big Horn, a 30-inch-tall study of voids, contortions and the interplay between light and dark woods.

Natural elements

Most of Sells' sculptures are either abstract or have forms reminiscent of natural phenomena. Subtle ribbons of color in Sugar Maple Canyon look like compressed layers of earth and fossils running through a canyon, and light falls into the piece similarly to how light falls into a real canyon. Mr. Man, hollowed out of spalted dogwood, has the rough shape of a skull.

Reclining Figure in rare South African red ivory, on the other hand, recalls a large-scale nude, while a small vertical sculpture brings to mind a Picasso interpretation of a torso. The latter is gently framed by a metal support system that wraps around its curves.

Sells collaborates with a metal worker to create custom woodworking tools, as well as elegant support structures for hanging or standing pieces or flat bases for sitting work.

One of the most surprising pieces in the show is visible only when descending the stairs between the gallery's second and first floors. The piece is displayed vertically against an olive rectangle gallery owner Hal Pickel painted onto the wall at Sells' suggestion. Made out of pale holly, Stag looks like a piece of driftwood or an animal relic, an illusion heightened by its antler- and barnacle-like protrusions. These structures, which Sells calls "orbitals," are featured in most of his works.