Paul Evans: The Argente Series

Under the leadership of the master artisan Dorsey Reading, Evans’ team soon worked out a novel technique. They first sheared panels by hand from 1/8” aluminum sheet and then attached them to a wooden carcass, establishing an overall form. Using the MIG welder, Reading and the other artisans then articulated the façade by melting aluminum wire along the seams. Some areas of the surface were buffed (using a felt wheel and white rouge), with others selectively inked with a brush. Finally, further linear elements were welded on, and ornament inscribed into the black areas. Slate was employed for table tops and, in one unique case, for a handsome double-pillar desk. Notably, the detail of the surface rendering was entirely left to Reading. Evans would give him a rough drawing on onionskin, occasionally marking out the basic lines of a design on the piece, and then leave him to it. This was a true collaboration between an inventive artist and a gifted maker.

Evans first applied the Argente technique to a trio of experimental artworks dubbed the Sculptures in the Field, in 1965. This is significant for it demonstrates that he saw this new vocabulary as implicitly sculptural from the outset. Soon after, when he presented a first group of functional Argente works at America House in New York (the retail outlet of the American Craftsmen’s Council), he recognized this explicitly: “This is a whole new approach to aluminum…which has a great future, because it fits with the mood and designs for many of today’s architects.

Sculptures in the Field, 1965