Transforming a utilitarian material into transfixing sculptural works, Athens artist Noah James Saunders bends, curves and twists wire into portraits with multi-dimensional emotional depth. Coming to the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, the solo exhibition “Wire and Shadow – Portraits of Poems” is a significant body of work that marries visual and literary arts.
“I love the magical rebelliousness of wire—the most innocuous item found in the back of every junk drawer—and I love the process of transforming it into objects capable of deeply moving others,” says Saunders.
Often suspended so they can freely move, Saunders’ sculptures hold a peculiar kinetic quality. Just as important as each meticulously placed wire curve in a facial expression is the presence of negative space. As the viewer’s position and atmospheric light both shift, each sculpture’s shadows reveal complex, shifting inner worlds.
“I sculpt the shadow just as consciously as I do the physical work,” says Saunders. “The wire portrait captures a moment in time; the shadow captures the universe within the model that led to that moment.”
In spring of 2022, Saunders completed “En Vie,” the largest and most complex sculpture he had ever created. Feeling accomplished but creatively drained after such a demanding project, he was unsure of what could possibly follow in its shadow.
While looking for inspiration around his studio, he found an old postcard from an art show he had 20 years prior, which prompted him to reflect on the trajectory of his life with wire. He then remembered a series of sculptures he had dreamed of creating as a young artist, but fear had gotten in his way at the time.
While Saunders had previously worked exclusively with 18 gauge wire, no matter the size of the portrait, creating “En Vie” revealed how matching the wire’s thickness to the sculpture’s scale kept the delicateness of facial expressions in balance with the physical sturdiness necessary to keep the sculpture from bending under its own weight. Realizing that he now possessed the expertise he needed to materialize his earlier vision, he set out on a series that has now become one of the most significant exhibitions of his career.
Saunders began gathering images of models to use as photographic reference for his sculptures, but realized that he also needed an emotional well from which to draw, or a story arc to help unify the series. One day, he checked his mailbox to find a copy of Marc Zegans’ new book Lyon Street, a collection of poems about coming of age in San Francisco in the ‘70s. Zegans’ poems resonated with Saunders so deeply that he felt inspired to incorporate them into the portrait series. Pairing specific poetic lines to models, he created wire portraits with distinct personalities.
“Each wire sculpture in this series inhabits the mood found in the stanza that gave the piece its title,” says Saunders. “It is also a true portrait of the poem in which the stanza is embedded. I achieve this effect through the carefully sculpted use of shadow. Similar to the way a prism reveals the full spectrum of light, the true nature of my wire portraits is revealed when light passes through them, casting a myriad of emotions, expressed in shadow, that change with the angle of the light. Each shadow projected face can reveal the full spectrum of emotions found in the poem from which the piece arose.”
After having pieces from the series accepted into two nationally juried art exhibitions, Saunders reached out to OCAF to organize a solo exhibition debuting the entire collection together. Each portrait in “Wire and Shadow” will be suspended so that it can gently spin, and guests are encouraged to use Bigblue dive lights provided on site to play with the sculptures’ shadows. The exhibition will also include the poems that inspired the sculptures.
Saunders considers the exhibition at OCAF to be a preview for his immediate community before he attempts to take the show on the road and heads to the west coast. In January, one of his sculptures will be included in “The Art Of_,” an annual art auction in Los Angeles that showcases queer artists and supports The Laurel Foundation. Following the auction, he will meet with curators and then travel north to San Francisco, where he’ll introduce his “Wire and Shadow” series to staff at the San Francisco Library, which operates three gallery spaces concentrating on art shows with a literary point of view.
To support his ambition, a crowdsourcing campaign is currently underway with the fundraising goal of $25,500. As of publication, he is just shy of $10,000, the amount allotted specifically for presenting the exhibition at OCAF. The remaining funds will go towards travel expenses and hiring a videographer to document the exhibition, which will in turn be used to show gallerists and curators the mesmerizing movements and shadows of his sculptures.
OCAF will host an evening celebrating poetry with readings by local poets on Thursday, Nov. 9 from 6–8 p.m. An artist talk and reception will follow on Saturday, Nov. 11 from 4–8 p.m. with live music by the Kate Morrissey Band featuring Lisa Cesnik Ferguson and Tony Oscar. “Wire and Shadow” will also be on view during regular gallery hours, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., on Nov. 10 and 14.
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