Hendrix Mexico Sculpture

Jan Hendrix Mexico Sculpture for Private Collection

Produced using milled plate-aluminum, this sculpture is a permanent installation in Central Mexico, one of several projects by artist Jan Hendrix produced by Zahner. Mr. Hendrix has worked with Zahner on numerous occasions for projects in the United States, Mexico, and Qatar.

Completed in 2013, the latest Jan Hendrix sculpture was commissioned by a private collector as a permanent installation on the client’s property. The human-scale sculpture includes a landscaped lighting system designed to accentuate the polished aluminum surface.

The material is a plate aluminum, polished to a near-mirror finish. The artist desired a highly reflective aesthetic for the surface. Many of the artist’s thick-cut metal designs were manufactured by Zahner using water jet cutting which gives the metal surface a matte edge. For this project, the artist desired a reflective edge. Zahner worked with the artist to develop a milling technique which prevented the need for additional buffing and polishing of the aluminum surface.

Milling the aluminum also gave the artist flexibility for how the cuts were removed from the material. Zahner worked collaboratively with Jan Hendrix through several different iterations, discovering that a special mill tip and machine speed gave the best finish. The softened edge makes the piece more approachable and touchable as a consideration of the artwork’s street-level presence. The final cut features a rounded bevel and a polished edge which gives the milled aluminum surface an aesthetic of liquid metal. Upon the artwork’s completion, Jan Hendrix mentioned that the chosen finish gave the work a jewelry-like effect, stating that the piece looked as though it was cut from pure silver.