Burning Man Legend Zachary Coffin

Cornerstone Sonoma welcomes Burning Man Legend Zachary Coffin. Join us for the Unveiling of Rockspinner6 by Zachary Coffin. There will be a 3pm unveiling Reception for the artist to follow in A New Leaf Gallery l Sculpturesite and a 4pm interview by gallery owner Brigitte MicMacker.

Like much of Coffin’s work,  Rockspinner6, tests the limits of the laws of physics by presenting a seemingly impossible gravitational situation.   “Everyone has experienced a well-built machine that seems able to function nearly effortlessly and a poorly made one that either works poorly or breaks immediately”, says Coffin. “I knew that in order to make an impact in this realm, I would need to become an expert builder. For instance, I have made a series of works that are basically large rocks mounted on bearings (Rockspinner). These allow anyone, even children barely walking, to spin a multi-ton boulder. Though it looks raw and simple, the only reason that it works is because I have found the precise center of balance of the stone, that the bearing is precisely level and that my bearings and shafts are both accurately concentric and able to resist deflection from the load. If these criteria are not met, the sculpture simply becomes as you expect: a large immovable rock.”

Rockspinner6 was included in the exhibition Sculpture in Motion at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and will be placed in the entry at Cornerstone Sonoma.

Coffin is presenting Rockspinner6 along with the 70 foot tall Colossus at Maker Faire Bay Area on May 21^st and 22^nd. Colossus is an interactive sculpture that was built for Burning Man in 2005 and consists of 40,000 pounds of stone on an impressive steel armature.