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A Tiny Wishbone Holds This Deconstructed Piano Together

Maskull Lasserre's juxtaposition between a hulking piano and a sliver of a wishbone is a visual wonder.
All images courtesy the artist

An artist and former musician crafts a poetic message through his delicate sculpture of a piano severed almost in half—aside from a single wooden wishbone. Titled Improbable Worlds, the structure is a raw, meticulously-crafted piece of woodworking. It utilizes all the original parts of the piano but never any sort of adhesive, besides the sole, surviving wishbone.

For the artist, Maskull Lasserre, the project has a deep significance to his personal philosophy and lifestyle. It began when Lasserre was still in school and asked to respond to the prompt, “How far a single piece of material could be dissolved by a metaphor and still remain intact?” Lassere shares with The Creators Project, “There is something innately interesting about the translation of a musical instrument into a sculptural object. I have many pianos and other instruments in my studio as both contemplative objects and potential material for physical work.”

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“What ultimately binds these pieces,” he continues, “is the delicate balance between differentiation and unity. What threatens to pull them apart are both the perils of physics, and the human yearning of hope in the fulfillment of a wish.”

Lasserre describes the psychological toll of breaking down a massive and beautiful instrument into essentially a tiny sliver of wood. The artist details how the entirety of the piano had to be disassembled, realigned, and modified as to create the proper balance and symmetry.

“Most of my work, on any project, is on those areas that no one will ever see. I do this so the essence of the work, its point or focus, floats clearly on the surface without appearing laboured or compromised. Improbable Worlds is a prime example of this.”

“In order to get to the point of carving the wishbone, the entire piano had to be taken apart and put back together…that would allow it to be almost cut in half and not simply fall apart.” The artist describes his testy and nerve-wracking relationship with the wishbone, which more frequently than not, threatened to crack at the slightest disturbance. Thinking innnovately, Lasserre employed some technology to assist in the delicate, realignment process.

“[Physical readjustment of the piece] was accomplished through the construction of a steel armature weighing almost 400 pounds that could be attached and removed without dislocating the two halves. A laser that I installed inside one corner of the instrument shone on a fixed point on the corresponding side as a way to verify the alignment of the work.“

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Learn more about Maskull Lasserre as well as see more of his other works, here.

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