Portrait of the Artist's Brother

David Mach is best known for the transformation of man-made, mass-produced materials into temporary sculpture on a monumental scale. Portrait of the Artist's Brother is a wall hung effigy and refers, like much of his work, to a high art tradition, in this instance that of neo-classical portraiture. However, Mach challenges tradition by his use of cheap, throw away, mass-produced material, which is transformed with an illusory twist into something more exotic. To make this work, 500 metal wire coat hangers were manipulated and welded around a mould of the sitter's face, then painted to a highly polished finish, their hooked ends remaining to create a silver aura around the head. The result is an ambiguous sculptural portrait.