Thaddeus Mosley, Repetitive Reference, 2020

Thaddeus Mosley: I'm Thaddeus Mosley. I'm a sculptor from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And I'm in my studio, which I am every day of the week. This was a work I did based on the Chi Wara sculptures from West Africa, from Mali. And it's like an antelope head mask that they wear on their heads for fertility, for rain, for the crops. There's many versions of this tribal sculpture called the antelope mask. And some of them have a baby antelope on top of the main antelope. And you'll see this is a contemporary, or at least my version of this idea. It should have a feeling of levitation, a floating quality. 

Narrator: This version of Repetitive Reference is cast in bronze. But Mosley’s sculpture begins with wood. 

Thaddeus Mosley: Most of the wood I get is walnut and cherry, because they're both hardwoods. And you can access the definition of the tools. Since you can direct your eye, you can make various patterns, and they give a very sharp detail by being hardwood. And also, the natural beauty of the wood. Walnut, to me, is a very beautiful wood and so is cherry.