Pursuing the elusive industry of art

THERE exists a false dichotomy between industry and art. To many, industry signifies the impersonal operation of machines that transform natural materials into commodities to be traded on the anonymous market for corporate profit. By contrast, art is seen as an unconditional act of imagination through which the agency of free individuals forms itself into a sonnet, sonata or dramatic scene that rescues humankind from the realm of necessity and conveys it to the borders of freedom.

Industrial art destroys this artificial difference. It combines the economic and aesthetic value of natural materials through a process of manufacture that produces objects of both consumption and appreciation – from intricate handicraft created by rural artisans, whose skills have been transmitted through generations in face-to-face societies, to mass-produced artefacts rolling out from the conveyor belts of anonymous urban factories.

Clay, plastic, wood and steel attest to the fusion of art and industry in my life.