Gold Leaf Sculptures

Gold From the series, Elements, this sculpture references the proliferation of gold mines in third world countries. ARTIST'S STATEMENT Michael Davis My sculptures and installations...

The mining and processing to separate the rare earth elements is an environmental conundrum. On one hand these elements are in extremely high demand and necessary for electric vehicles...

LLC and mining operation being bought up at an alarming rate by international consortiums. The Rare Earth artworks grew out of my investigative research in 2009 while working on a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF) application. That resulted in a body of work titled “Imagos”– photo/journalism images that capture a moment in history and immediately place the viewer at that moment in time. While navigating Landsat records of Earth's land surfaces from space I discovered large areas of disturbed landscapes. These were immense open pit mines at numerous locations world wide, many of which were Rare Earth mines or REEs. The mining and processing to separate the rare earth elements is an environmental conundrum. On one hand these elements are in extremely high demand and necessary for electric vehicles...

While navigating Landsat records of Earth's land surfaces from space I discovered large areas of disturbed landscapes. These were immense open pit mines at numerous locations worldwide, many of which were Rare Earth mines or REEs. A digital image of a rare earth mine in Madagascar in combination with Landsat imagery, vintage damask wallpaper...

Reflection A mass-produced plaster bust of JFK faces an anonymous cast Asian female with slightly mirrored gold ecliptic glass between them that reflects t...

I began to incorporate these Landsat images into a new body of work titled "Rare Earth." Each Rare Earth artwork includes an archival image of a specific mine rendered in classic 3D (anaglyph) off-registration referencing mid-century exuberant optimism, geopolitical history, cultural signifiers, symbolic design patterns and phenomena The formal and elegant composition belies the actual relationship of the cause and effect of rare earth mining. --- The Rare Earth artworks grew out of my investigative research in 2009 while working on a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF) application. That resulted in a body of work titled “Imagos”– photo/journalism images that capture a moment in history and immediately place the viewer at that moment in time. While navigating Landsat records of Earth's land surfaces from space I discovered large areas of disturbed landscapes. These were immense open pit mines at numerous locations world wide, many of which were Rare Earth mines or REEs. The mining and processing to separate the rare earth elements is an environmental conundrum. On one hand these elements are in extremely high demand and necessary for electric vehicles...