Inspiration
Wood & Plaster
Richard Serra & Gavin Worth
Richard Serra is a sculptor from the United States, born in San Francisco in 1939. Serra studied at the University of California Berkeley and Santa Barbara. He graduated with his BFA in English Literature and began his visual art career working in a steel mill in order to make a living. His exploration in steel grew from there, opening up many opportunities, including earning a BFA and MFA from Yale University. Serra is known for his minimalist style large-scale sculptures. Serra's early work was process-based abstract forms. Serra's work tends to have an overpowering quality, forcing the viewer to become aware of space and the elements involved in that exploration. In many of his site-specific steel sculptures, he uses the steel to create large forms, resembling walls or boundaries that seem to defy gravity and impose on one's space.
Serra's series, Torqued Ellipses, has inspired me in creating my plaster and wood pieces. In his torqued ellipses, he uses large-scale curvilinear walls made of steel to create a space that the viewer must explore from all sides and experience through a physical and spacial interaction. Serra is highly in tune with and conscious of his material, paying close attention to the mass and volume of his architectural forms. His work has been described as having a certain "physicality" to it. His concept derives from the idea of space and manipulating it in certain ways can affect how our perceptions and experience of a space. His general idea of space and how forms interact with one another influenced my reductive plaster work. Serra's inspiration comes from many things, including his early memories of his father working in the shipyard and his own labors in the steel mills. Serra was influenced heavily by the teachers he had while earning his MFA at Yale, the most notable, Philip Guston and Morton Feldman.
Another artist I found helpful in my exploration of wood and plaster as 3 dimensional media is Gavin Worth. Gavin Worth is an American multi-discipline artist born in Zimbabwe. He started out his career as an actor and musician. A self taught artist, he has always had a passion for the visual arts. His work varies in style and medium. Worth stated in one interview that his interest in pursuing the visual arts was directly inspired by Michelangelo's Head of Leda. Worth has mentioned Alexander Calder as another of his influences, specifically in his wire sculpture series. This is the work I found most inspirational. Worth's series of figurative wire sculptures influenced my wood sculptures directly. I enjoy the way he manipulates the wire to create certain subjects. Another aspect I find intriguing is how when these forms are viewed from different angles the contours affect how the piece is experienced, creating a dance between the mass and the negative space. The sensitivity he has towards his medium inspired me to look at and handle wood in a very different way than what I was doing previously I decided to link my figure drawing work with my sculpture work and create figurative forms with the wood.
Shadow Boxes
Audrey Niffenegger & Joseph Cornell
Both Joesph Cornell and Audrey Niffenegger inspired me in the creation of my shadow boxes. The basic influences of their work on mine ranges from composition, manipulation of material, and strong emphasis on narrative.
Niffenegger was born in Michigan and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago and received her MFA from Northwestern University. Her most successful works began with prints and illustrations for her short stories. She then went on to publish several more short stories with illustrations as well as wrote two novels. Her strong use of narrative in her prints inspired me significantly. At times her compositions are very simple and obviously very thoughtful. Her subject matter is personal and tends to cover topics that portray somewhat dark themes.
Cornell was born and raised in Nyack, New York. He was not a traditionally trained artist but always held a strong interest and passion when it came to putting things together to create something new. He grew up loving the arts and took up the hobby of thrifting and scavenging found materials. Cornell was inspired greatly by thrift and secondhand stores. His use of material has always been a huge inspiration to me. Overall with this piece, I found myself looking at his minimal shadow boxes like, Tilly Losch.
Kinetic
Gary Schott
Gary Schott
Patrick Jacobs
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/11/patrick-jacobs-magnified-portals-into-miniature-worlds/