A SCULPTURE ENGINEERED TO DIE.
DESIGNED OBSOLESCENCE
A 9-foot cast aluminum kinetic statue brought to life through 16 pneumatic pistons and built with a predetermined lifespan — designed to function for ten years before falling permanently still.
Built over 9 months and an estimated 5,000 hours.
An application of designed obsolescence as a metaphor for human mortality.
"Everybody sees a statue and thinks, 'That's immortal.' By making a statue that will die, that's reversing that. This is designed to illustrate the point: You are not immortal."
— Cecil Carpenter
CECIL CARPENTER
MEET THE ARTIST
"Art is a language — and if you don't understand what is being said you will not be able to appreciate its actual depth."
Cecil Carpenter is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the relationship between beauty, mortality, and the soul. Born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, he earned his BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2008, where he was awarded the Outstanding Senior in Fine Arts Award, before exhibiting his work in galleries across the United States. His work is rooted in Neoplatonic philosophy — the tradition of Plato, Plotinus, and Proclus — which holds that the love of beauty is the first step through which the soul ascends toward the divine.
