George W. Hart
Ceci n'est pas une lampe is my response
to people who suggest I should put a light bulb in my hanging
sculptures. This one contains sixty bulbs inside, along
with sixty sockets on the outside and a big jumble of wires with
120 plugs connecting everything. It is rather complex to
capture in a single photograph, so see this video for
a better sense of its structure.
The sculpture is assembled from just two shapes of part. There are thirty components that look like a curvy blue wire with plugs on each end. There are sixty pieces that suggest a bulb, socket, red wire, and red plug. Everything is laser-cut from Baltic birch plywood (of the type shown unstained in the background here), with drawings laser-etched on to both sides, then stained. The bulbs have a small notch where they connect to a point near the center of a blue wire. All ninety components are planar.
The sculpture is assembled from just two shapes of part. There are thirty components that look like a curvy blue wire with plugs on each end. There are sixty pieces that suggest a bulb, socket, red wire, and red plug. Everything is laser-cut from Baltic birch plywood (of the type shown unstained in the background here), with drawings laser-etched on to both sides, then stained. The bulbs have a small notch where they connect to a point near the center of a blue wire. All ninety components are planar.
This close-up image might make clear how each socket panel has a red plug entering from one side and a blue plug entering from the other. You can see the ends of the prongs are flush on the other side. The plugs are orthogonal to their sockets, so the two opposing plugs at any socket lie in parallel planes.
Here's another close-up, giving a better view of the inner layer of sixty light bulbs. Near the top you can see the inner type of connection, where two bulbs attach to the center of a blue wire. (I used forceps to place tiny spring clamps that held those joints while the glue dried. The outer plug-and-socket joints were easy to clamp with small ponytail rubber bands while their glue dried. The complete assembly took me three full days.)
Available for Sale
What is shown above is just my prototype model of Ceci n'est pas une lampe. It is 30 cm in diameter, made from 3mm thick wood. I am looking for a commission for a larger full-sized version. I plan to scale this by two to make a 60 cm diameter version from 6 mm thick wood. The price is $7,500.00 plus shipping. Contact me if you are interested.