Mattress coils help artist’s vision spring to life

Artist John David Yanke doesn’t work in clay or other traditional forms of sculpture. His medium: mattress coils that he unwinds and bends to his need. He says, “Mattress springs offer a loaded image for the viewer and for me they are a mental and physical contradiction. They are a malleable yet stubborn material. The design is brilliant in that it contains no positive fasteners–material and form work in union to maintain shape–an everlasting test for me to re-imagine, reconstruct and reorganize.” To help him bend the mattress coils, he uses a special machine that was custom-made for him by a group of University of Arizona students. For more art related content, click here.