“The Kiss”: A Memory In Carbon Steel - by Noah Savett:
In the snarl of human connection, where passions intertwine with fleeting moments, sculptor Noah Savett found himself captivated by a singular, ephemeral encounter — a kiss. This tender act, this electric juncture of two souls, would later drive him to create a physical monument to its essence. But first, there was a wedding.
It was the mid-1980s, an era where whiskey sour fountains were the height of indulgence, and the air at weddings hung heavy with the mingled scents of freshly curled hair and perfumed ambition. Noah, a recluse by nature but an occasional charmer in the right setting, attended his friend Kenny Newhammer’s nuptials by himself. It was not a plus-one affair unless wedded bliss had already claimed you, so the room teemed with solitary figures cloaked in their nervous allure.
Noah, thin and impeccably dressed, carried himself with an enigmatic presence enhanced by his impeccable abdominal muscles. His voice, steeped in the romance of sculpture and the idealism of a world at peace, drew the young women to him like moths to an open flame. He spoke with conviction, weaving tales of bending steel into expressions of love and humanity. Each word he uttered was a hammer striking the steel of their intrigue, shaping an atmosphere of hushed reverence.
One woman, her name lost to the folds of memory, sat spellbound. She hung on his every word, her gaze a silent plea for more. They found themselves perched in a bay window of the Fort Orange Club, as the rain outside falling with a soft, rhythmic insistence. The world seemed to shrink around them, the chatter of the wedding receding like an ebbing tide.
They leaned closer, drawn together by an invisible thread spun from shared vulnerability and the weight of unspoken dreams. Their lips met—a kiss, simple yet profound. It was not the kiss of lovers, nor of fleeting lust; it was the kiss of two strangers momentarily united in a shared silence.
And then, like all transient things, the moment unraveled. A friend’s voice broke the spell, summoning Noah to leave. He reached for the woman’s hand, helping her down from the window sill. “I will find you,” he said, his voice a whisper against the encroaching reality. But fate, indifferent as always, ensured they would never meet again.
Years later, the memory of that kiss still lingered, a spark smoldering in the recesses of Noah’s mind. It was not the woman he sought to immortalize but the moment itself—the fleeting connection, the pulse of humanity distilled into a single, electric instant. And so, he turned to his craft, bending steel to his will as he had bent the air with his words that evening.
“The Kiss” was born, a fabricated metal sculpture embodying the universal and undefinable power of that singular act. Its curves and lines capture the synapse of connection, the spark of something both tender and untamed. In its polished surface, one can see the reflection of every kiss ever shared, from the timid brush of young lovers to the desperate embrace of those clinging to the last vestiges of their passion.
But what is a kiss? Is it a symbol of love or lust? A fleeting moment or an eternal promise? Noah’s sculpture does not seek to answer these questions but to ask them anew. “The Kiss” invites its viewers to pause, to feel, to remember their own moments of profound connection.
Now, this timeless symbol of a moment in time between the intimacy and emotion of a man and a woman, can find its place in your collection. Add “The Kiss” to your space and let it stand as a testament to the beauty of fleeting connections, immortalized in the enduring strength of steel. Let it remind you that even the briefest of moments can leave a mark that lasts forever.
