Gloom sawed through glorie’s bloom...

[Araich]

Don - this cracked me up!

http://www.sculpturedisplay.com/bluewave.html

"He shook his head, smiled an embarrassed smile, but he couldn't remember."

I've just spent a week at war with a very simple work. My attitude has been all wrong - even when I should know better. The problem I find is that less obvious complexity does not equal less visual complexity.

As soon as we start to dissemble a sculpture technically, we destroy it.

Sometimes I need to be reminded to step back and look with fresh eyes.

[obseq]

"I've just spent a week at war with a very simple work. My attitude has been all wrong - even when I should know better. The problem I find is that less obvious complexity does not equal less visual complexity.

As soon as we start to dissemble a sculpture technically, we destroy it.

Sometimes I need to be reminded to step back and look with fresh eyes."
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Araich,

Well said.

I am glad I found this even though it was posted back in July! After reading this I do get a better sense of where you are coming from artistically.

I think I see a lot of this thoughtfulness emerging from the work you have shared with us. It answers some of the questions you may have been reluctant to answer regarding your work ;)

Cheers!

[Araich]

Dear obseq, I have a real sense of transition in my work at present. A fundamental change in myself.

And it's not a happy experience either, I might add.

The question that has arisen is that of meaning. Always an obvious challenge made to an abstract artist, but one that I found easy to dismiss. However, lately it's become clear that some symbolism has crept into my work - a contradiction to my stated aims.

Could it be that I'm departing the comfort of the modernist camp, and am about to come adrif in the boiling seas of statement and commentary.

Or have I been there all along, but blissfully unaware.

[sculptorsam]

Araich, would you find it possible to simultaneously work in multiple directions? One direction could be purely formal sculpture, the other more symbolic? You can trade off when one seems incomplete/limited and one day you may find a higher synthesis reached that you may not have found if you simply chose one over the other.

I am currenly working in about three directions myself, all quite different from each other. There are the bio-logical sculptures (like the one I just posted), the Impaled Cairns series and some oversized steel traps (very medieval and somewhat symbolic). It's not a great solution, but it's working okay for the moment. Very tiring though. Instead of one coherent body of work, I'm trying to nail down three. It helps to be a workaholic.


Sam

[fritchie]

sam - Very imaginative works. Let us see more as they come along.

[sculptorsam]

Fritchie- thanks, and will-do. What you see above is about half a years worth of work though so you'll have to be patient.

Sam

[waveshop]

I agree with sculptosam,... working in three-four diff. directions allows me to expand on each variation depending on any given days mood. Without getting to philo here,... I guess it would be like building a yellow, and a red, and a blue, and a etc,etc,..... brick road going off in diff. directions from the central hub. Hey!,,.. Not in the mood to work on the yellow one, see if the others are gona "jump start the day". Not in the mood for any of it, (because at times, for me, it can be a bit like a cluttered garage that seems to get more clutterd no matter what I seem to acomplish), no biggy,... one day lost for me is better that strugling to call one path finished and start on another. The Difficult thing that I think I am finally getting under control is the temptation to differentiate off the main paths with little "bright ideas". i call them flash quarks that pop in due to working several diff. paths at the same time. If I keep the diff directions "exactly that" I tend to get really into coming back over to a path I may have not worked in awhile. Several ongoing series that can go on for awhile? I guess.

[RustyBlade1964]

It helps to keep our limitations in mind though. Working in differant dirrections is almost always enjoyable. But fruition can be dismissed entirely if we are not careful.

Especially for those of us with cognitive disabilities wether natural or medicinal sideeffects.