Why sculpt?
Have you ever held a lump of clay in your hand?
The amount of pleasure one derives from just playing about with a lump of clay is most astounding, it is a sensual, constantly changing. The clay is playing a game with us, at times giving us the opportunity to mold it and at other times taking control. The basis to that enjoyment feeling one gets touching a material that is exterior to ones self. Why does one sculpt? As a Sculptor and a tutor I am constantly surprised at the large range of motivations to create sculpture.
The most common type of motivation is expressing ones self through material but another profound motivation is to sculpt in order to relate to the world.
though there are many others, such as sculpting for public purposes, investigating aesthetics, creating beautiful objects imitating nature and creating new environments. Some sculptors would answer “I just love doing things that have no use”.
Using sculpture as a mean to relate to the world, using sculpture as a mean to go beyond the world.
What if we did not have real choice but sculpt? For instance we grew up in a society that it was mandatory to sculpt.
Sculpture as a mean to achieve a feeling of infinite space. Sculpture is a koan
Many years ago I spent a few months in Mahabalipuram, a village in India where I learnt some stone carving. It was a profound visit as I noticed that the motivation to create sculpture at that village was completely different than the motivations in the modern western world. Mahabalipuram has been for centuries a sculptor’s village, producing endless amounts of statues and amulets for Hindu temples. From a very young age the majority of children had no choice but to become sculptors as this was the family trade but most of them were happy sculpting. The sculptors themselves never really considered self expression as a motivating force to create their sculptures. They always derived great pleasure during and at the end of the process from their ability to control the material, but this clearly was not the main motivation. Their main motivation was generated from the knowledge that the work is assisting the worship of their Gods.
Religious sculptures expose the paradox of all sculptures. As they have two faces, on the one hand a vehicle to assist the devotee reach beyond the physical and to be transcended closer to the abstract God, and on the other hand they are fetishes that have been worshiped for their own sake, the symbol has become the subject.
What is Sculpture?
The definition of sculpture has changed dramatically throughout the past one hundred years. Traditionally we consider sculpture as a three dimensional, human made object selected for a special recognition as art. This definition, as recognized by other theoreticians in the past 30 years such as Rosalind Krauss and JJ Charlesworth, is no longer the case. It is no longer the case because of works of art created by artists throughout the 20th century that didn’t fit the traditional categorization of sculpture but still were considered sculpture for some reason or another. A toilet presented in a museum, a museum space with nothing in it. Video installations, remains of a performance, a rock spiral in a lake, slicing of a house, documenting a few leaves in a forest, sound in a gallery and an animation film……..
The definition of sculpture has expanded and at the present can only be defined in a very general term as “material activity within space”. This new definition, as blurry as it sounds conceals great power.
Now a days I get students ask me “Is there any need in defining sculpture?”
The various attitudes to sculpture have become numerous and as a result the borderline between sculpture and all the rest in our reality has almost disappeared. This borderline holds now, more than ever, great opportunities to reach a higher awareness of life.
The amount of pleasure one derives from just playing about with a lump of clay is most astounding, it is a sensual, constantly changing. The clay is playing a game with us, at times giving us the opportunity to mold it and at other times taking control. The basis to that enjoyment feeling one gets touching a material that is exterior to ones self. Why does one sculpt? As a Sculptor and a tutor I am constantly surprised at the large range of motivations to create sculpture.
The most common type of motivation is expressing ones self through material but another profound motivation is to sculpt in order to relate to the world.
though there are many others, such as sculpting for public purposes, investigating aesthetics, creating beautiful objects imitating nature and creating new environments. Some sculptors would answer “I just love doing things that have no use”.
Using sculpture as a mean to relate to the world, using sculpture as a mean to go beyond the world.
What if we did not have real choice but sculpt? For instance we grew up in a society that it was mandatory to sculpt.
Sculpture as a mean to achieve a feeling of infinite space. Sculpture is a koan
Many years ago I spent a few months in Mahabalipuram, a village in India where I learnt some stone carving. It was a profound visit as I noticed that the motivation to create sculpture at that village was completely different than the motivations in the modern western world. Mahabalipuram has been for centuries a sculptor’s village, producing endless amounts of statues and amulets for Hindu temples. From a very young age the majority of children had no choice but to become sculptors as this was the family trade but most of them were happy sculpting. The sculptors themselves never really considered self expression as a motivating force to create their sculptures. They always derived great pleasure during and at the end of the process from their ability to control the material, but this clearly was not the main motivation. Their main motivation was generated from the knowledge that the work is assisting the worship of their Gods.
Religious sculptures expose the paradox of all sculptures. As they have two faces, on the one hand a vehicle to assist the devotee reach beyond the physical and to be transcended closer to the abstract God, and on the other hand they are fetishes that have been worshiped for their own sake, the symbol has become the subject.
What is Sculpture?
The definition of sculpture has changed dramatically throughout the past one hundred years. Traditionally we consider sculpture as a three dimensional, human made object selected for a special recognition as art. This definition, as recognized by other theoreticians in the past 30 years such as Rosalind Krauss and JJ Charlesworth, is no longer the case. It is no longer the case because of works of art created by artists throughout the 20th century that didn’t fit the traditional categorization of sculpture but still were considered sculpture for some reason or another. A toilet presented in a museum, a museum space with nothing in it. Video installations, remains of a performance, a rock spiral in a lake, slicing of a house, documenting a few leaves in a forest, sound in a gallery and an animation film……..
The definition of sculpture has expanded and at the present can only be defined in a very general term as “material activity within space”. This new definition, as blurry as it sounds conceals great power.
Now a days I get students ask me “Is there any need in defining sculpture?”
The various attitudes to sculpture have become numerous and as a result the borderline between sculpture and all the rest in our reality has almost disappeared. This borderline holds now, more than ever, great opportunities to reach a higher awareness of life.
.jpg)
Comments