Loren Madsen
“Nobori”, Carved pine and fir with redwood, purpleheart, walnut inlays, and splints, 2010
Loren Madsen started his artistic career in the early 1970’s. Madsen explains his artistic process as “vast installations
which slowly turned into reasonably discreet sculptures. Simultaneously my urge to history and some kind [of]
accurate representation of the world and how I fit into it (my original college major was political science) began to assert itself.”
He spoke previously to the KSAT regarding the inspiration, influence and process for the sculpture “Nobori”:
“After a year or more of building a new house, studio, and developing its water and solar systems, I had some time to indulge. As a means of getting back into ‘making’, I selected a few trees and made “Nobori,” a reflection and
celebration of my love of Japan – where I had visited and done projects for some years – and its history. Nobori were the flags used in military situations to direct the actions of the troops by leaders well away from the battle scenes. But, typically for Japan, they had inherent beauty. By using wooden plugs, splices and inserts to ‘repair’ my locally harvested trees, I was able to mimic the Japanese flags. Hence, “Nobori,” and my re-entry to
sculpture.”