Last year I sculpted a large copper tree, 12" in height and about 8 pounds. While the piece was fine, something about the proportions seemed wrong. One thing about copper is that it is amenable to revisions. I have used pliers to bend red hot metal into shape much like a glass blower works molten glass, repaired root structures, removed whole pieces from a base and changed marble sizes.
In this case, the branches were too long and became a dominant visual focus. The solution was to shorten the branches by 2-3 inches and add back the marble fruit. I used the change to also redo the color scheme to an olive tree look which was the model for the tree. The copper "rock" that the tree is mounted upon was made by melting down scrap copper into a solid copper nugget. The whole idea was to have a bonsia style of a tortured tree. This piece is available for purchase. 805-568-1896
If it is functional, is it art? This is a copper box I made some years ago for my daughter Emily Wood and her husband Clint. It is fairly basic and made from copper and copper alloy with an applied chemical patination. I employed copper sheet, wire, ball and plumbing fittings.
It seems there is some redeeming factor in a piece when it serves a greater functional purpose than collecting dust. While I am no Benvenuto Cellini with his salt cellar, I think functional art gives a great deal more pleasure that a hands-off piece. In a article written by Michelle Marder Kamhi the question of utilitarian or functional art is explored. The great Michelangelo was said to have designed a candelabrum for the funeral chapel of the Medici's. Some would denigrate the design as too utilitarian to be art.
In my opinion, it is all art even if there is no pretense to some lofty ideal, mythological character, bowls of fruit, grand vista and a dame with a mysterious smile. A well designed vase, candelabra, jeweled box, change holder and a dimension of pleasure to everyday tasks.
Earth to Energy One - First Place and the Santa Barbara Sculptor's Guild 2013 Show
Dominick Laruccia, sculptor, was commissioned to create a piece for the San Diego Gas Company in 1964-65. His first effort was the piece pictured above. The materials used are copper nails, sheet copper, copper plumbing fittings, copper pipe, copper shot and a braising alloy. It stands about four feet high and sixteen inches in diameter. The color of the copper was achieved with a proprietary chemical patination. My best guess is that the copper nail armature was briased together with the aid of a steel pipe to help form the shape. I actually have the cardboard patters for the turbine stucture in my archives. I fancy that is akin to having notes from Leonardo da Vinci.
Dominick's background as an organic chemist was the catalyst for creating a double flame shape that enveloped a turbine-like structure suspended within the flame. The piece is a masterful opus of design and execution. True to the artists temperament, he was not satisfied with the piece. He retained this sculpture and produced another that was more complex and utilized glass spheres, plumbing fittings and large copper nails.
This sculptured was relegated to the back of a closet and never was shown in public, until now. I am pleased to say that it took first place in the exhibit and I am delighted to share the sculpture with the public.
In the late '60s and early 70', I was an assistant to a sculptor names Dominick Laruccia, Jr. I will post more on this person later as it is a fascinating story of a complex man. In a recent web search, I found a dealer in London that was selling one of Dominick's art pieces. After some back and forth, I struck a deal and purchased the piece.
I am looking to find other pieces to collect. His medium was mostly copper but he also worked in acrylics, cast stone, gold, semi precious stones, marble and rare woods. Please email me if you know of one of his pieces.
Sculpted Tree Circa 1967
In the late 1960s and early 1970s Dominick made sculpted copper and glass trees. They were sold mostly at Gump's in San Francisco. All the sculpted trees were crafted with the branches arraigned in a symmetric design. The little cups in later works are painted with acrylics on a gesso base.
The base was formed from copper shot and the basic structure is from copper cable. The cups were formed from copper slugs that were domed in a metal form. The metal used to hold the piece together as well as form the roots is a silver alloy. The roots were free formed in place using the melted alloy. It was pulled while molten into the root forms.
While most of these pieces were sold at Gump's, he did have a gallery association in Palm Springs back in the late 60's and early 70's as well as selling with Neiman Marcus and the American House in NY. I would estimated that as much as 200 sculpted trees were produced in a variety of designs from very small to a series of windswept versions about 10" in height. I have recently been contacted by a gallery that has a majestic piece that is nearly two fet in height.
The variety of his work goes well beyond the trees though. He was an organic chemist as well as a talented flutist (Carnegie Hall soloist at 19, Mozart Concerto in D). He forsook a career as a chemist with the Borax Lab in Anaheim to go into the art business. He found his medium when a man named Bob French introduced him to oxyacetylene sculpting.
Copper was his main medium and he interwove that with gold wire, marble, semi precious stones, rare woods and his own exotic materials. He dealt mostly in abstract forms but also used organic forms in some of his pieces. The vases he made are arguable his best pieces and represent great mastery of the materials. His mastery of abstract design and use of color marked his paintings and graphic designs.
Dominick may or may not still be alive. He would be about 81 but long suffered from allergies and fought mental disease all his life. Depression haunted him and once, about 1990, he attempted suicide that left him with a limp from nerve damage. I attempted to see him about 3 years ago and went to his apartment in Queens. He had left that place about a month before and I was told he went to live with a brother. As he had no brother, the person must have meant brother in law as he has a sister. He must still have relatives in the Long Island area. His mother and father were immigrants from Luccia, I believe. His father was a private tailor at Saks 5th Ave. when it was truly an exclusive store. Craftsmanship ran in the family. I wore some of those suites and they were incredible.
Please call or email if you have any of his works and are considering selling or want more information.
Laruccia Sculpted Tree Circa 1965, Root Details, 8 inches tall
The internet is magic. It brings desperate worlds together and connects in unexpected ways. A few years back, I would have never dreamed of finding sculptures from my old mentor, Dominick Laruccia, Jr. Now, I discover or am contacted about pieces that folks have owned or acquired in estate sales.
I have been able to add to my collection, mostly of sculpted trees. I have estimated that there are over 400 of the genera that were made. Styles vary widely from the simple upright, no roots version to one that was 24 inches tall with some 75 glass fruit. For the most part, they have stood up well. Dominick use to say that his pieces would last hundreds of years. Certainly the copper structure will, but the glass fruit eventually drop off when the epoxy fails. I have repaired a few already. Most often, branches become mangled and need reshaping. Laruccia always gave them a formal shaping in character with the overall design. In some cases the glass fruit was glued to each other to retain the shape.
On rare occasions I have found other sculptural styles such as a vase, wire wound pieces, geometric abstracts. THe trees, however, were the most prolific pieces and were the bread and butter off the welding bench. Please contact me if you have a Laruccia sculpture, even if only to share. I am writing a biographical piece and would love to reference his other works.
I was recently contacted by a dealer in South Carolina about a sculpture the purchased from an estate sale. I purchased the piece sight unseen. Typically the Laruccia trees I have purchased have the branch work mangles from handling and the occasional broken root tip or missing glass fruit. THis piece was no exception. It will be easily repaired and restored to its original glory. The colors and somewhat faded but still show the little surprise burst of color at the right angle. THe form is different in that the trunk is stocky with a heavy gauge wire and one inch glass fruit on 18 "stems."
I am delighted to add it to my collection. I am continually delighted by the variety of forms the Dominick Laruccia created in the style of sculpture he invented. Please get in touch if you know of a Laruccia work, even if it is to share a photo. Laruccia created many other sculptures and typically signed his work.
Sometimes, a piece of sculpture evolves over time. This vase is a case in point. The patinated, copper base and central support started out as the structure for the piece tht later became "Il Monde." That was featured in an earlier blog and was done in a Claire Faulkenstein style using over 200 feet of copper tubing. The original idea was to have a cut crystal sphere inside a cage of copper that was illuminated by and electric candle set inside the copper pipe column and concealed by a sliding trap door. That door proved to be problematical later when the base was reused.
I ended up deconstructing the piece as the base structure looked too busy with all the copper pipe below the shpere. At the time I was also experimenting with foldforming techniques and produced a number of leave structures. In time, I applied those leaves to the rejected base of Il Monde and capped it with a hand twisted, forged ring. When I filled the vase with water to test for leaks, it did leak. My solution was to our in molten lead to seal those leaks. That was not successful so I mixed a two part boat repair resin and pushed that in to the bottom of the pipe. Still leaked. Last week I applied the torch and burnt off the resin and heated the lead filler until it melted. Some molten lead dribbled out and when it cooled, the leak was fixed. Lastly, I patinated the base area, left the leaves a nature flame finish and applied a sealing coat.
I recently purchased a Laruccia copper and glass tree on the internet. From the style, it appears to be an early version from the mid 1960s. I had never seen the branching structure that this piece has. Smaller copper cable was joined to make a three-forked branching for the glass fruit. Since it was unpolished, that also helps to place it in that time frame. It is about 8" high and in great shape, like new condition.
Laruccia was an active sculptor from about 1962-1974. His studio was in Orange, California, in an oversized studio cottage. He worked primairly with copper but employed other metals, semi precious stones, acrylics, cast exotic cements and chemical compounds. After his move back to Queens, NY, he worked primarily in graphics but was not active on the art scene.
I am an active collector of Laruccia works, please contact me if you have one of his pieces and would like more information.
A picker in Santa Maria, CA recently contact me about a sculpted Laruccia tree he purchased from an estate sale. The piece is an example of the windswept version about 8-9 inches high. The polished finish and style places it in the early 1970s. The metal is copper braised with a copper alloy. The branch work and trunk are reclaimed copper cable and the pebble base is copper shot braised inside a copper cable ring using a copper alloy.
The piece is in need of some TLC as all the glass fruit has fallen off and a few of the root tips appear to be broken. While I made an offer, it was refused by the picker. I was hoping it would come up on EBay but I have not seen it yet. I think the fellow either paid more than my offer or has an inflated idea of the pieces value or decided to keep it in his collection. It was most probably originally sold at Gump's in San Francisco.
Sculpting in metal has a deep satisfaction. Making a piece from copper means that it will be around for hundreds of years, unlike my 'food art" of cheffing that is gone in moments.
This piece was inspired by the works of Claire Faulkenstein, a sculptor from the early to mid part of the last century,(July 22, 1908 – October 23, 1997). She was an American sculptor, painter, print maker, jewelry designer, and teacher, most renowned for her often large-scale abstract metal and glass public sculptures. The other influence was my mentor, Dominick Laruccia, Jr. His technique and use of materials are infused in the piece.
The sphere is constructed of over 200 feet of copper tubing held together with more than 4,000 braised attachment points. Hidden in the center of the sphere is a lapis lazuli globe reminiscent of earth. I chose the pyramidal base for its eternal appeal. The sculpture references the cosmos in the maco and micro sense. The web of copper around the earth-like sphere echos the contrapuntal fugue of the expanding universe. OK, sounds like an art critic or wine snob! What do you see in it?
The piece went through two design phases. The first mount was constructed from copper shot, pipe fittings and has a repeated copper tube design. The central pipe core had a trap door to place a light inside. On top and inside the sphere was a large Crystal ball that would have been illuminated from the light at the bottom of the pipe. I did not like the cluttered look under the sphere so I deconstructed the base and redesigned it with th pyramid. The trick was braising the sphere to the pyramid and not melting the epoxy holding the lapis globe to its mount on top of the pyramid. See if you can figure out how I did that hat track by watching the You Tube Video below. The pyramidal base has a hidden compartment for storing stacks of $100 bills, love letter or old treasure maps.
