Ben Eckert
William Darrell is a London-based artist who utilizes 3D printing techniques to create extraordinary works of kinetic art. Darrell also employs self-taught engineering skills to incorporate motorized systems of gears in his work to build what he calls, “mechanically abstracted organisms” (Colossal Magazine, 2023). Darrell states that he is inspired by, “the relationship between the organic and the mechanical along with the enticing, mesmerizing qualities of movement” (Colossal Magazine, 2023), as well as, “Biology, evolution, and the law of physics.” (Selfridges & Co., N.D.), evident in pieces such as Oneiros, Optimism Bloom, Ostara, and Restless Bulbs and Rotting Goodness which showcase Darrell’s dedication to precision, a celebration of the symbiosis that can exist between technology and art, and his personal take on the relationship between humans and the environment.
William Darrell, Ostera
Darrell’s sculptures rely on 3D printing in order to achieve the level of precision necessary for each component to align perfectly, and they are often powered by a single motor, as well as a series of gears, belts, magnets, cams, and elastic bands (Colossal Magazine, 2023). The gears attached to the outermost elements of his sculptures are often visible, which I personally find interesting in that his decision to incorporate them into his design celebrates the mechanical and artificial nature of his work. There is no illusion that this is not a mechanical piece, and yet the work is rendered realistically enough that there exists a balance between the implied biological and mechanical. In doing this, Darrel successfully celebrates the merging of these two worlds, which I think is part of his overall concept.
William Darrell, Oneiros
Regarding the use of software to create his sculptures, Darrell says, “When learning to 3-D print, I got hooked on the software programme (SIC) Tinkercad. Because it’s aimed at children, it’s slightly limited, but it’s allowed me to find the shape of my brush stroke and compose sculptures that feel like an extension of my imagination.” (Selfridges & Co., N.D.). I really like this sentiment because I find that from my own experience, sometimes programs considered “simpler” or somewhat “limited” can enable an artist to more easily realize their creative vision, because often what you want the program to do as an artist is very specific and often very simple—but not necessarily what the program was meant to do, so having less options, and bells and whistles allows an artist to more easily navigate the program and find the specific controls that allow them to achieve their creative vision.
William Darrell, Restless Bulbs and Rotting Goodness, 2021
In his 2021 work, Restless Bulbs and Rotting Goodness, Darrell responded to the experience of being in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. His artist statement for the piece reads:
“Grounded in place, peering out at what we can. The Earth pulses with emerging vegetation, our windows become our personal wildlife documentaries… All the while nature envelopes previously unwelcome territory, an accidental healing process brought on by our absence. Now the time is near (for our emergence)… as excitement builds, we can barely be contained. Hairs raised, eyes out on stalks, tasting the air.” (Selfridges & Co., N.D.)
Darrell gives voice to the strangeness we all experienced in viewing our world from inside our homes through the lens of our windows, watching as nature began to reclaim the spaces we had previously inhabited, and as we began to re-emerge from quarantine, the strangeness of our re-awakening—testing the world with excitement and apprehension. The strangeness and appeal of Restless Bulbs and Rotting Goodness truly captures a profoundly weird moment in our recent history, and portrays the surreality of our collective experience of nature during that time while also capturing the trepidation-mixed-with-anticipation with which we approached the world once we began to emerge from our quarantine.
Overall in his work Darrell seeks to express a commentary on the relationship between humans and the environment and how as we shape the environment moving into the future, our relationship with it will change too. In a recent artist statement posted on his Instagram, Darrell described the conceptual framework behind his art making practice as stemming from the ways in which animals—in tandem with humans—have evolved to relate to their environment for survival:
“In many situations the physical shapes the mental and visa verser. This can be seen in the symbioses of flowers and their pollinators. The bee’s brain evolved in coordination with the physical form of the flower. Through our survival over the eons we have also been subject to this type of mental shaping. There are reasons why a slug looks gross and an apple looks appealing and this visual language feeds into the environment we create for our selves. The bright packaging of a skittles packet is a perversion of the fruit it emulates. We are surrounded by man made objects echoing these psychological commonalities.” (Instagram, 2024)
William DArrell, Pasion Flower
The fact that Darrell utilizes computer software, 3D printing, and mechanical engineering in his practice to communicate this relationship only reinforces the artist’s vision of the symbiotic relationship between humans and the environment: what we do to the environment will influence the feedback we receive from the environment, which in turn will influence what we continue to do, and so on, and so on. William Darrell is truly an artist of his time—utilizing the most current technology at hand to construct a commentary on the nature of it’s effects on the world around us. At the same time, he creates artwork that is visually compelling and strange, fit for contemporary science fiction—which is itself a commentary on the world we live in, and the world we choose to create.
William Darrell, The Most Worms Trophy
Sources:
Artist’s Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C_czgrJvhEs/?hl=en
Colossal Magazine, “Kinetic Botanical Sculptures By William Darrell Wriggle and Writhe in Hypnotic Motion”, October 31, 2023
Artist Statement (Video from Instagram)
Selfridges & Co. – Interview with William Darrell (No Date)
https://www.selfridges.com/US/en/features/articles/superculture/the-art-block
Artist Website:
https://cargocollective.com/williamdarrell
Artist’s Statement – Youtube: