Natural Modernism

A brief trend during the Modern Age was Natural Modernism. The sculptures shown here are a collaboration among a boring clam, the sea, and a human eye and hand to select and arrange the results. The clam in question is known as a piddock. It is more torpedo-shaped than clam-shaped and has the ability to rasp its way into rock using the ridges on its shell and a rotating motion. It uses the holes it creates for protection. When the rock is broken up by erosion (often aided by the weakening of the rock by the clam holes themselves), the resulting fragments are worn smooth by wave action and cast up on the shore. The results often bear an uncanny resemblance to an archetype of modernist sculpture, the 3-dimensional free-form blob with one or more holes in it. These are prized by modern Zymoglyphic collectors as "nature imitating art"

Common Piddock