ARTISTS STATEMENT:
Through a subtle interplay between idea and structure these three dimensional form unify my need to invent objects which mystify yet beg meaning. I begin with an internal vision . The need to create stems from deep within me. I feel that art that moves the spirit as well as the intellect can interact with individuals engaging them in a personal dialogue.
Can sculptural forms address societal conflicts in a manner which causes viewers to become mindful, concerned but also engrossed with their pure aesthetics. It is a problem which has consumed much of my thinking and work. Avoiding overt depictions the viewer is instead confronted with a query. Within each piece there exists a tension between our natural realities of hope and despair, violence and tenderness, discipline and mercy. One series probes the ironies of conflict, another series explores the disparities of surface beauty masking deeper realities.
Open ended, expansive, extended expressions of movement articulate each form. Tensions build as the rigid material, eight-quarter sugar pine, curves, interlocks and circles three-dimensionally as individual pieces come into being; abstract shapes commingle with familiar ones such as hands, shoes, or model airplanes . Additional materials to enhance these meanings include graphite, metal, plastic, tailpipes, fiber and rubber.
During the working process the emotional and intellectual investment in meaning clarifies. Visual influences from our environment coalesce with personal experiences to determine form.
References to the past become inherent in the work. Although I often work in series each piece retains its distinctive character.
Formal considerations may be traced to the majestic constructions of the medieval period, the vitality embodied in the abstract expressionist movement and the inventiveness and spiritual essence of Native American art.
“In the word is involved the unity of humanity, the wholeness of the human problem, which permits nobody to separate the intellectual and artistic from the political and social and to isolate himself within the ivory tower of the “cultural” proper.”
Thomas, “Letter to the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty, Bonn University”.
Lita Kelmenson