Bains Romains

Bronze
2007
8’”x 4” x 4” ( 20cm x 10cm x 10cm )

Bains Romains is part of a series of bronze sculptures Shirley produced in 2007. Generated from collected Styrofoam packaging, the pieces were made using the Styrofoam as a positive mold. The resulting solid bronze objects deceive as they appear at first as painted theatrical props but upon closer observation a perceptual shift occurs. The extreme weight of the bronze is in sharp contrast with the source material, Styrofoam, the shape now divorced from it’s original purpose of weightless form. The transition from styrofoam to bonze leads to a formal reconsideration, the object having shifted from packaging to architectural model, abstract sculpture with an emphasis on space and scale.