Unlocked Chain 1998

Joe Minter made this sculpture, Unlocked Chain, out of metal and chain to, I imagine, tell a story with found materials. I’m drawn to the way Minter fearlessly combines these rough, corroded materials. The rusted surface is what grabs me. It’s aged, textured – almost like a painting in itself. You can see how the rust eats away at the metal, creating this incredible patina. There’s a dialogue here, between decay and strength, constraint and release. See how the chain loops and drapes, almost playfully, over the rigid steel? At one point, it’s fixed, but then it hangs loose, suggesting a breaking free. Minter reminds me a bit of Thornton Dial, another incredible artist from Alabama who used found objects to speak about the complexities of life and struggle. There’s a raw honesty to their work, a refusal to pretty things up. Artmaking becomes a form of bearing witness.