Aleph

21″X 18″X 11″
steel, paint
2006
$1,800

While working on a design for a public art proposal for a library, I became intrigued with letter forms.  I decided to make this sculpture based on the form of the letter “aleph” from the ancient Semite alphabet (not to be confused with the Hebrew “aleph”).  This character is a simplified outline of an ox head.  It evolved from a similar character used in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  The character continued to evolve through the Greek and Roman alphabets to become our modern “a”.  In selecting colors, I kept in mind that the form originally represented an ox.