Artist Statement
Decay #4 is built from reclaimed railroad track and spikes and new steel rod and bar. The finish is raw and unpainted to highlight the beauty of the material in different stages of decay. The piece’s wheat motif harkens to the importance of the railroad for early American agrarian culture and to the invasive vegetation’s reclamation of the railroad’s substructure to nature.
Artist Bio
Neil has been in the welding industry since 1995, but his artistic career launched even earlier, when, at eight years old, he began to study classical painting. He took painting classes all through high school in West Palm Beach and came to Atlanta to go to art school for painting. After one week of painting classes sophomore year, Carver switched to sculpture. Soon after, he started working in a welding shop. Finally, he left school in 1997 to work in a series of metal fabrication shops and artists’ studios. Neil was featured in Art on the Atlanta BeltLine 2012.