EOS PROJECT Old hand tools
Works of art As Glen McClure admired the workmanship that had gone into creating old hand tools he realised that they are, in themselves, art forms.
About Glen During the past two decades, Glen has had over 70 solo and 50 group exhibitions in the US and Europe. His work can be seen in private collections and many museums, including the Polaroid Collection, Virginia’s Taubman Museum of Art and Chrysler Museum of Art. Glen is known for his disarmingly direct portraits of people and his moody, elemental Irish landscapes.
What is your photographic background? I have been a professional photographer since starting out in 1977 as a photographer’s assistant at a production house in my hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, USA. I then worked eight years at an advertising agency as the in-house photographer. I have had my own studio in Norfolk since 1988. What was the inspiration behind your idea to photograph tools as works of art? One day I picked up one of my dad’s old hammers and it just struck me, right then, that “Wow, this is more than a hammer. This is a beautiful thing that I’m holding in my hand.” I thought about how someone had designed it, someone had forged it, and it sure is just beautiful to look at! What is your aim? I want to show folks that even the commonplace object like a wrench, a mallet, a screwdriver, is
8 || EOS July-September2022 2022 preview 12 EOS magazine magazine July-September
Above Sanson shears. EOS 5D Mark IV, EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM lens at 57mm, 0.8 second at f22, ISO 400.
Sculpture Once I’ve chosen an object and decided what it is I want to show about that particular tool, the actual composition is not all that hard since my goal is to show these items in a direct, honest way. My thought is to place these tools in situations that you would usually never see them in, and to turn them into pieces of sculpture, almost.
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