How ordinary nails turn into incredible masterpieces

For more than 40 years, the American John Bisbee has been turning ordinary nails into amazing sculptures. For his works, John uses only nails that differ only in size. According to him, this metal material is like lines on paper, which in the hands of a professional turn into works of art.

"Nails are objects that hold different entities together," said the hero of the novel, and John Bisbee echoes him: "Nails are the oldest connecting material." With a confident hand, the artist weaves them, forges, welds and binds thousands of them into patterns similar to light, mobile and living matter fixed in a three-dimensional freeze frame.

One day, the artist John Bisbee was exploring an abandoned house in which he was looking for materials for his series of sculptures consisting of found objects. At that moment, he accidentally touched and turned over an old bucket with rusty nails. To his amazement, the nails, having oxidized, merged into a single piece of metal and continued to hold in the shape of a bucket. Since then, he has been creating sculptures exclusively from nails — the material that inspired him more than 40 years ago.

John Bisbee's works are large-scale installations of geometric or organic shapes made of thousands of nails that are bent, glued, welded or pressed.

The artist's studio practice is working on sculptures six or seven times a week. In the last few years, several assistants have been working with him — aspiring artists and students from college. His mantra is: "Only nails, always different."

Until now, he does not even make sketches, working with real, unyielding and difficult matter. In college, the artist was looking for himself, trying different sculptural techniques, including ceramics and clay, until — almost by accident — he found his way and his language.

So the craft gives room for creativity, and creativity stimulates and motivates hard craft. Steel works resemble dynamic figures, and sometimes even living beings. Banal nails turn into an endless, complex palette. It seems that the hero of the novel was right, and nails are really able to fasten a variety of entities. "There are always so many amazing plexuses that I haven't had time to try yet, so many ideas that have accumulated over the years," the artist adds. "I am happy to say that I will continue to work with nails and with nothing but nails."