Doug Bosch has long been attracted to the processes of accumulating, piling, sorting and stacking. He finds that when multiples accumulate and reach a critical mass a special condition emerges, one in which the individual parts compound and strike a consonance of provocative texture. Coaxing this consonance requires attention to scale, material, and proportion in order to ensure the effect. So, while manipulating and directing his works in the studio, Bosch continually monitors the density of the accumulations, watching for that moment when the textural condition becomes visually and physically significant. Within each individual work, Bosch explores various equations for combining its singular parts, teasing those parts to move toward a cooperative and cumulative beauty, where the textural sequencing distinguishes itself with some cadence. As a result, there is often a grain visible in his work, a patterning of material along specified axes, which articulates the form’s general anatomy. Consequently, Bosch’s work is often ordered into piles, stacks and bundles, as he endeavors to negotiate a confluence between discipline and grace. And in these works, one can still see the method and residue of manufacturing with intended clarity, imbuing the work with a visible, procedural history which demonstrates that the marriage between process and form is a thorough one.
In his recent group of works Bosch directs his attention to particular historic moments in science. By referencing a few key scientists and their development of scientific principles he takes cues from a series of early scientific instruments to bring to life the stuff of dry science textbooks. One series of sculptures pays homage to the electromagnetic experiments conducted by the French scientist André-Marie Ampère and the Italian scientist Leopold Nobili in the 18th century. Another series of sculptures draws direct reference from the earliest pile batteries invented by Alessandro Volta and the trough battery invented by William Cruickshank. A broadening series of sculptures centers on the forms and inventions of Michael Faraday. Toying with scale and the tradition of how scientific artifacts are displayed in museums Bosch has placed most of these small sculptures under the care of a glass case, intimating a functionality and protecting the sculptures’ more fragile parts.