Iris Ward Loughran




While on residency in Dortmund, Germany, I found the site of a former steel plant that was going to become a mixed use development for the local university. This particular lot had remained in ruins from a demolition in 2020. Among the debris were five clusters of twisted rebar with tentacles up to 7 feet long that erupted from the foundation. I painted one of the rebar clusters rainbow to inject the space with a bit of magic. The first day of painting, I was asked to leave by security. I returned a couple days later to complete the paint job. 


During that visit, I collected 6 concrete fragments that had bent steel embedded in them. I brought the 6 objects back to my studio to paint the tentacles, and I began calling them my specimens. 




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