Art created through the use of a welding process. Welding is a highly adaptable and versatile medium for the artist or sculptor. Many different materials and areas of creativity are possible. Artwork can be created by joining material to build an object, or by removing material from larger pieces to achieve a desired effect. Many sculptors use a combination of the two techniques, using both arc and oxyfuel gas welding and cutting.

The use of welding techniques in modern sculpture has developed gradually. Until recently, artists used age-old methods of casting to create three-dimensional metal figures.

Pablo Picasso was one of the first artists to experiment with welding. Through the ages, the development of sculpture has essentially been a concern with mass, space and volume, leaving linear expression to the draftsman or painter. However, during the 1930s two very distinct movements with strongly opposed philosophies were creating the new ideas that would liberate sculpture from the restrictions of the foundry. One group, the Surrealists, commanded the most immediate attention with their attempts to suggest the activities of the subconscious mind. The second group, the Constructives, achieved the most far-reaching technical influence with their concern for the formal arrangement of planes expressed through modern industrial materials. Both of these schools of thought had numerous and talented practitioners, and these basic approaches continue to influence welded sculpture.

In the past, much of the welded sculpture had been produced with the oxyacetylene torch. Currently, the well-equipped sculptor probably has a small SMAW or GMAW outfit in his studio for creating artwork from materials such as aluminum and stainless steel, as well as the mild steels.

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