“Iron is abundant in blood and ore. Rust, a remnant of transience. Steel is a mutable material, open to reinvention through forging and welding and, if not reworked, then returned to the earth. It reflects the modern body, reactive and vulnerable within our lifetimes; where bronze casts persist from antiquity, Buick Skylarks turn to papier-mâché in the woods.
Retooling by Garrett Gilbart showcases sculptural metalwork that brazenly repels common notions of metallic permanence and rigidity by embracing the organic and transmutable qualities of steel.
Crafted by hand using contemporary industrial metalworking techniques, these objects appear like timeless relics caught in an alchemical moment of prolonged decay, yet are full of vitality, rooted in traditional craftsmanship and a love of good tools. With a rurally-based practice, Garrett Gilbart works from the colliding worlds of agriculture and contemporary art.”

-Curator Julie Hall

Artist statement

Garrett's work focuses on the cultural and personal significance of objects and tools,exploring the fading aura of utility and labor that these objects exude and bleed into personal narratives.They are also willing to create commissioned pieces using heirloom tools forindividual clients, allowing them to delve into shared histories and relationships with labor, craft, the land and the tool object by taking advantage of theorganicnatureofsteel. Culturaly we have strong notions of what steel is and looks like , rectilinear, hard, and permanent, but in truth none of these are inherent material conditions. Steel only has whatever shape we as its creators give it.The alchemical properties that I bring out of thematerial in my work are that it can be melted, bent, and re-forged into something new.

These altered found objects have the overgrowth of ages on them, the intricate cut work of new growth based on local botanical species welded into the original steel of the tools. The landscape literally etches into the tools and the people who over the years use them, discard them, and pass them down. By removing the utility these objects they can live on as something altered and unique.