Andy Harding is a sculptor living and working in Nashville, TN. He developed a passion for art-making while pursuing a degree in chemistry at Belmont University. In the years following graduation, he worked in architectural metalwork and woodworking studios while engaging in an ongoing study of the scientific and philosophical subject matter that continues to inform his work. In 2016, he had the honor of studying contemporary art in China with 12 other art professionals. His work has been exhibited nationally in Boston, San Diego, Chicago, and Louisville, and can be found in numerous private and corporate collections across the United States.

The deep history of the matter around us inspires much of my work. Dust, stone, water, and wood—every material we encounter—contains atoms with a story that extends back to the birth of time. The contents of everything from our solar system to our bodies has come from the far reaches of space and remade itself for a time before returning to the dust from which it came. Thus, the world we inhabit now is just one moment in a saga of material transformation. 

In Cloud Witness, my most recent work in a series that began in 2014, I grapple with the reality that matter in all its forms has had a previous life elsewhere. Indeed, scientists have theorized that all the constituent parts that make up the whole of the universe—and life as we know it—can be traced back to the primordial clouds of gas that emanated from the Big Bang. This work serves as a totem for the elemental structures that emerged from these cosmic clouds of dust and gas. The frenetic configurations of the wood sculptures hint at the elusive nature of the particles and energy contained within all matter. In addition, the floating acrylic “ice-clouds” within the installation highlight a simple but dramatic example of matter transforming in our midst. This image arose from the revelation that Earth’s atmospheric clouds are increasingly seeded by water that has been frozen for millennia in the arctic ice.

The materials, form, and process behind the work echo this grand cycle of transformation. The compositions are made from materials with history, such as reclaimed wood and discarded acrylic. Though composed of hard-edged geometric elements, the wood and acrylic forms take on an organic, fluid nature when viewed as a whole. Not unlike the manner in which many natural organisms and formations grow, each piece developed in an emergent and incremental fashion without a preconceived end. In addition, many of the sculptures are composed of a single, infinite loop—further embodying the concept that all matter is in a state of perpetual transition.