Saddle Point #1

 

The Saddle Point Series

Saddle Point definition: A point at which a function of two variables has partial derivatives equal to zero but at which the function has neither a maximum nor a minimum value. With functions of two variables there is a fourth possibility – a saddle point.

Matt Weir’s work as an artist is based in science and material processes. He deeply examines the mathematics of shapes while developing the concept for each sculpture. Each new work also challenges various technical aspects of working with materials and scale, be it bronze, stone or mixed media. The Saddle Point series is one of the most challenging bodies of work for the artist to date. The material is Indiana limestone. It was salvaged from the 2nd Street Bridge ramp in Jeffersonville and part of the original bridge construction of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge in 1929.

Matt Weir’s Saddle Point series is a philosophical study of proportion and perspective. It examines the “measure of value” and the relative understanding of “differences.” The name is derived from the fact that the prototypical example in two dimensions is surface that curves up in one direction, and curves down in a different direction, resembling a saddle or mountain pass.

This abstract sculpture alludes to the nature of landscape and geology as well as to the source of the material. This limestone was deposited over millions of years as marine fossils decomposed at the bottom of a shallow inland sea, which covered most of the present-day Midwestern United States during the Mississippian Period. 

– Martha Slaughter Independent Curator, Speed Art Museum Board of Trustees.

Indiana Limestone
(support : stainless steel, hickory)
50” x 30” x 24”