Hany Armanious
Untitled Snake Oil




Artwork Detail
Traditionally casting has been used to reproduce sculptures, but today sculptors are addressing the process in its own right. Hany Armanious has made a series of works using Hot Melt, a miraculous and versatile casting vinyl. He calls it "snake oil", suggesting an elixir, a wild-west cure-all (perhaps a fix for all his sculpting problems). This nickname also suggests a hoax, something bogus. Sometimes Armanious pours Hot Melt into space, forming inchoate blobs and folds that betray the material's qualities: its viscosity, the speed at which it sets. However, here he pours it into glasses, casting the space that a drink - a magic potion - would take. He turns out the solidified volumes like jellies or cupcakes, perching them atop the inverted glasses as dainty plinths. They become a family of curious comic characters: some blunt, some pointy; some graceful, some squat. Recalling the metallurgists, alchemists and charlatans of old, Armanious' piece invokes the - possibly miraculous, possibly bogus - power of art. (Snake Oil, 2005)
- Title
- Untitled Snake Oil
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 2003
- Medium
- hotmelt, glass
- Credit line
- Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2003
- Accession no
- C2003/1/45
- Copyright
- Copying restrictions apply
- Department
- International Art
- Display status
- Not on display
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