Rick Salafia’s Wildly Shaped Aluminum Rulers Measure Impractical Proportions | Colossal

APRIL 19, 2023. GRACE EBERT

All images © Rick Salafia

With dramatically bowed edges, coiled shapes, and fragments jutting in opposite directions, ‘Instruments’ defies standards of measurement.

With dramatically bowed edges, coiled shapes, and fragments jutting in opposite directions, Instruments by Rick Salafia defies many standards of measurement. The ongoing series, which currently comprises more than 200 works, disregards the one-foot rectangle in favor of a playfully diverse array of shapes. Semi-circles stretch like a croissant, ends expand into wide, asymmetric forms, and a segment stretching just a few inches breaks free from the rest of the metal tool. While the pieces in Instruments take on impractical shapes and proportions, the individual inked lines and numbers remain relatively uniform, evoking the systemized nature of a typical ruler.[…]