The digital  sculptures of Michael LaForte use stereolithography to reconstruct familiar objects in an architectural space.  He produces his work using 3D System’s SLA 500 resin process through a service bureau that usually works for the auto industry and engineering firm. He meticulously reconstructs banal objects such as a radiator (American Radiator Envelope, 1998), utility box, doorbell (Dixie Edwards, 1998), light switch and a fire hose (Inverse Kinematics, 1999) and other objects of mass usage and inserts them into existing architectural spaces.  According to LaForte, “The intention of my work is for it to slip almost invisibly into the exhibition space. The work raises questions about the (in)tangibility of space and the functional object in today’s virtual culture.”  LaForte’s sculpture is reminiscent of Pop Art and Dada’s questioning of what is real.

Michael LaForte received his MFA in 1998 at Cranbook Academy of Arts Sculpture program in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan , and a BSD in architecture at Arizona State University. (M>M)