Contemporary Sculpture
Last night I was thinking of that other trade of mine, that almost forgotten and long lost ‘profession’ known as contemporary sculpture.
In actual fact, its not totally forgotten about at all. Every week I still think about it and have a new idea for some kind of sculpture. I sketch these ideas down in a little book and one day I hope to build them all and have a small exhibition.
The genesis of good sculpture has become so glaringly obvious to me. This is an ideal opportunity to record this while I’m on holiday and my brain is less strssed, or else it would be lost forever.
In my opinion, there are two central ideas that govern a good piece of sculpture. They can be considered as follows : -
1) Simplicity - The root of all design and form. The idea is presented as a concrete reality. There are no smoke screens and it does what you think it does. It should not to elegant and it almost certainly should not be layered with levels of un-necessary cosmetics that serve to hide and disguise the non-existence of a simple and meaningful form. Thus, the object rescues itself from banality, rather than the spectator having to tag it with an identity.
2) End of Illusion - Modernity has continually driven itself towards new fads and trends that are manufactured by consumerism. Minimalism (60s sculpture movement) sought to realise the purity of the object as an experience that is un-shrouded by the glut and glitter of capitalism. The object relinquishes all un-necessary form in favour of meaning.
In actual fact, its not totally forgotten about at all. Every week I still think about it and have a new idea for some kind of sculpture. I sketch these ideas down in a little book and one day I hope to build them all and have a small exhibition.
The genesis of good sculpture has become so glaringly obvious to me. This is an ideal opportunity to record this while I’m on holiday and my brain is less strssed, or else it would be lost forever.
In my opinion, there are two central ideas that govern a good piece of sculpture. They can be considered as follows : -
1) Simplicity - The root of all design and form. The idea is presented as a concrete reality. There are no smoke screens and it does what you think it does. It should not to elegant and it almost certainly should not be layered with levels of un-necessary cosmetics that serve to hide and disguise the non-existence of a simple and meaningful form. Thus, the object rescues itself from banality, rather than the spectator having to tag it with an identity.
2) End of Illusion - Modernity has continually driven itself towards new fads and trends that are manufactured by consumerism. Minimalism (60s sculpture movement) sought to realise the purity of the object as an experience that is un-shrouded by the glut and glitter of capitalism. The object relinquishes all un-necessary form in favour of meaning.