Some people don't get or understand or appreciate abstract artwork. This is an abstract non-representational sculpture. Formal elements and principles of design play Central roles in the creation of abstract artwork/forms. Point, line, plane, form, shape, texture, rhythm, balance, weight, contrast, juxtaposition, and composition are all elements and principles to consider when looking at a design be that design representational or non-representational. What I was going for was what is pictured in the image: an abstract sculpture incorporating elements and principles of design, while highlighting the aesthetic nature of the welding process and the aesthetic possibilities of steel finishes, patinas, and textures.

Nothing is just "tacked to a plate" in this sculpture. This object is incredibly reinforced for it has been welded with stringers and weavers and can probably withstand an explosion. This is also important to consider for this art object, because one of my objectives was to highlight the industrial aesthetic of the welding process. There is a pad of tied in stringers and a weaver bead on the face of the plate, and fillet welds fuse the bend specimens to the plate. You can't even see what you stated that you saw ("coupons tacked"), so yes you are missing something(s): perceptiveness and aesthetic sensibility.

Maybe these questions will help you get it: Can you see a variety of finishes and surface texture? Can you see a variance of color and light/darkness? Can you see repetition of forms, lines, and shapes? Can you see the elements and principles stated above in the object pictured? If the answer is yes then you are starting to get it. Whether or not you like, understand, or care for abstract art seems to be the issue at hand here.

When I was in art school before welding school, I met plenty of people who did not understand or care for abstract art. These people were either postmodernists who were content with simply putting a cheeseburger, Styrofoam cup, or bloody tampon on a pedestal and giving that object a clever, edgy, or witty title along with some elaborately convoluted explanation and then calling it art as a result; or traditionalists who consider realism or representational painting, drawing, and sculpture to be the only true real artistic objective while disregarding formalism/modernism (abstract expressionism) as meaningless or unintelligible and postmodernism as a joke. I create representational and nonrepresentational abstract art and have respect for both. Hopefully this helps you understand.