They worked in gray coveralls and steel-toed boots. One name patch read, Merl, the other, Dale. They were brothers, coworkers, fabricators, welders. They worked in heat and metal and dirt and fumes. Much of what they made was seen everyday, but most went unnoticed. Metal plates aren't portraits. Fusion isn’t fashion.
They worked and they welded and they pressed and stamped and cut. Day in and day out. Cuts and burns and metal shards in places they ought not be. Important work, forming the backbones of buildings, bridges and heavy machinery. Important, but not always noticed.
And then one day, the artist, Warren, came through the door with an image in his mind. A shape, several shapes, that when molded and assembled would ask a question for years to come, Where Does Truth Lie?
The brothers listened and discussed. How tall? What angle? By when? They may not have fully understood but the task began. They worked and they welded and they pressed and stamped and cut. Day in and day out.
And one day the task was completed. The brothers, Merl and Dale, stood back, sweating, filthy, sore. So, that’s it? This is where truth lies? They laughed, they wiped their faces, they delivered the final piece to its final place.
One day an artist met two brothers. Time has passed. Warren is gone. Dale is gone. Merl is tired and weak and fading. But the shapes and their question remain, and they will for years to come. Where Does Truth Lie?
© 2016 Timothy J Condron
Where Does Truth Lie?
Sculpture by Warren Hall, fabrication by Merlyn Anderson and Dale Anderson
Thomas More College campus, 333 Thomas More Pkwy, Crestview Hills, KY
Photo by Timothy J Condron