Metal artist uses large-scale geometry for intimate works
Portrait by Will Crooks
Daniel Marinelli’s online bio is not fancy — it simply declares that he makes sculpture and paintings. The act of making transcends the material, is his take: “The work informs itself.”
That connection to the process as well as the product goes blood deep: Marinelli’s father, who emigrated from Italy in the 1950s, instilled the philosophy. “He had to work very tirelessly as a child to help contribute to the family’s wages,” says the artist. “This discipline was a lesson we learned over and over. I can still hear my father saying, ‘Work first, play later!’ But exploration and creativity were definitely encouraged.”
That curiosity led to an interest in metal and an apprenticeship at a metal fabrication shop in Greenville, South Carolina, during Marinelli’s undergraduate years at Bob Jones University. “I worked for a semester doing menial tasks around the shop, and then was brought on board one summer.” He stayed through graduation and found it “an extremely valuable foundation and education.”
Marinelli got his MFA in sculpture at East Tennessee State University. “There was an old-school machinist there that took me under his wing. He didn’t mince words, and had a direct way of teaching the proper way of doing things. You always knew where you stood with him, and that’s a bit of a rare but refreshing thing these days.”
Those lessons in proper method have produced an impressive collection of sculptural metalwork in steel, Marinelli’s favored medium, often combined with wood. “I have a soft spot for good plywood,” he admits. “I appreciate how utilitarian and unpretentious it is.” Despite steel’s rigidity, in this maker’s hands, the material seems to have spontaneously formed into fluid and sometimes whimsically imagined shapes based on everyday items such as rattles, fans, and gourds.
Other pieces are more contemplative, contrasting the metal’s tensile strength with reflections on social relationships and basic human needs.
“Some pieces, because of construction methods and processes, have to be mapped out from the start,” he explains, “whereas others can be made from a more intuitive approach.”
Planning the more complex pieces brings Marinelli’s drawing talent into play. His 2D art includes highly detailed portraits of toolkit contents — screws, gears, bolts.
He explains that his newer sculptural works involve “more math and mapping” — and this scientific quality now distinguishes his paintings, too. “I can get really intrigued by geometry and what can be achieved by it.”
It all underscores Marinelli’s custom design business, OK Goods, which produces a wide variety of metalwork, furniture, and embellishments for residences and public spaces.
“It’s the more functional arm of my creative process,” says Marinelli, who formed the company eight years ago. After completing a residency in visual arts at Penland School of Craft, the artist — who is married with three children — was confronted with simply making a living.
Having invested so much into metalwork, “I didn’t want to change trajectory completely,” he says. “But I knew I had to change course to some degree in order to survive. It was a pretty rude awakening.”
Setting up the business meant putting his fine art aside for a time; but now, once again, the process has proven to be vital for future growth.
“I have a real desire to strike more of a balance between the functional and the fine art,” he says. One sturdy example is his largest piece to date, the inviting entryway sign he designed and produced for Penland School, completed and installed last year.
“I had never worked on anything remotely this big,” he notes. “But after the successful completion of the sign, I really got the bug to make bigger and bigger work. That’s the direction I’m currently heading in.”
Daniel Marinelli, Greenville, SC. For information on Marinelli’s fine art, see danielmarinelli.com.