 Title: In One Ear... Size: 23 1/2" X 16" X 7" Date: Medium: Clay Smoked |
From the very beginning, my sculptural work has been a continuing exploration and attempt to illustrate ideas and concerns of the human condition, both whimsical and serious.
The sculpture is partially figurative so as to allow the viewer an easily grasped element to introduce them into the piece. By combining realistic and fantastical elements I am trying to encourage the audience to draw on their own imagination and life experiences for interpretation.
The recent sculptures are of a low fire white clay body that easily absorbs the smoke and carbon from the newspaper I bum around it. This smoking procedure is done in the open air after it has been fired to maturity in the kiln. The smoke acts as a paintbrush which allows the color to appear as if created by the hand of nature and not as an applied coat of paint from the hand of man. By controlling the smoke, to some extent, I can use it to emphasize the forms and the way the audience views the piece.
My influences come from African, South Pacific and Pre-Columbian art. I especially like the simpler primitive shapes that speak to us so powerfully and seem to tap into those forms that we have genetically accumulated in our psyches.