A circle cut from marble is nested within a plate of blued steel. The steel has sandblasted marks that extend the marble's natural lines past its edges and into the steel. They also resemble mountains in the distance.

Devin Farrand

Piston Plate Moon, 2024

Marble and blued steel
12 x 8 x 1 in
30.5 x 20.3 x 2.5 cm

Blued steel and marble meet at the edges in Devin Farrand’s Piston Plate Moon (2024). In contrast to the physical weight of the materials, the dynamic surface reflects light and creates an atmospheric quality reminiscent of moonlight. The vein lines in the marble have been continued onto the steel plate by sandblasting into the metal’s surface, these lines also allude to a mountains silhouette at night. Farrand’s Piston Plate series has been ongoing since 2015 and feature a circular cutout of one material inset within a contrasting material or a various industrial techniques applied to the same material with embedded cutouts. A perfect floating circle evokes both the moon and an abstracted piston from a car’s engine—this ambiguity is a perfect marriage between Farrand’s interests in nature and industry; aesthetics and production; and form and content.