Cleopatra's Wedge - Beverly Pepper's Scaled Creation

Of you ever take a stroll down the Burns Commons in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you may notice the fast rising population of public art displays around the area. Some people think of these monumental creations as a form of "plop art" because of their unique contrast to the surroundings, others say that the art pieces actually accent the townscape pretty well, and make the scenery just a bit more colorful. In 1991, Beverly Pepper; a sculptor from Brooklyn, carved away at an abandoned freeway corridor and shaped it into a tool's contour. Critics say that it resembles a leftover tool of Paul Bunyon (the giant lumberjack in fables). The sculpture was entitled "Cleopatra's Wedge" and maintains a vibrant rustic tone because of its material (Cor-ten)

Sculpture by Beverly Pepper - Photography Copyright © 2005 Sulfur

Beverly Pepper's sculpture was also exhibited at the New York Battery Part and Paris, France. It was eventually purchased for over two hundred thousand American dollars by Barry Mandel to put at its current location; the Burns Commons. Mandel hoped that the artwork would act as a centerpiece for the sculpture garden, surrounded by several smaller works. The park itself was named after Robert Burns, famous poet, giving consistency to the arts theme of the area. Pepper's monumental creation currently towers over the Burns Commons and stands as a lighthearted sight for park-goers and art lovers alike.

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Origami Bonsai Sculpture

A few weeks ago we posted an article about the sculptural potential of Origami and Kirigami. Today upon browsing through some art prints, we found that among the origami artists of Japan, some consider a few form to be a hybrid between two types of art. Bonsai Origami is a combination of the paperfoldding craft and the tree-shaping craft, both popular art hobbies in Japan. In this hybrid hobby, the technique uses tree branches from actual plants, and combines these elements with paper flowers, leaves and fruits. This interesting artform was actually introduced by a foreigner; John Coleman in 2010.

Coleman wrote a book entitled Origami Bonsai during April of last year. Aside from his initial publication, Coleman still strives to improve the technique further. He developed a technique called Makigami which uses rolled up newspapers in specific contours to substitute the real tree branches. Coleman's organic passion for origami has taken the practice to a different level of orientation. He has adapted his own style into an age-old art form and has gained a number of followers at the same time.

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John Chamberlain's Rustic Beauty

These days, fine art is a broad concept unrestricted by classical standards unlike in the Greek and Victorian ages. Many sculptures believe that making use of scrap or found objects is a good way to help rebuild something by turning it into something else. John Chamberlain uses old automobile parts and crushed steel to create distorted compositions of rustic sculptures in pure abstract form. Chamberlain wen to the Art Institute of Chicago and Black Mountain College during his years of learning. He became quite famous for his unique style of painting into three dimensions and his usage of car parts. He works and resides at Shelter Island in New York and has been sculpting for over fifty years.

Sculpture by John Chamberlain - Photography by Ser Amantio di Nicolao

Chamberlain's sculptures have been seen in Biennials around the globe, including the Sao Paulo Biennial in the early 1960's and the Whitney Biennial in the 1970's. During his career, Chamberlain was also represented by two esteemed galleries; the Gagosian Gallery and the Pace Gallery chronologically. It is rumored that he actually has a piece of his artwork on the moon. Not many sculptors can boast that kind of accomplishment indeed. Aside from these little pieces of information about him, he has also garnered several recognitions from various institutions like the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture which awarderd him the Skowhegan medal for sculpture in 1993 and the National Arts Club in New York that conferred upon him the National Arts Club Artist's Award in the late 1990's.

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Jay Gubitz and his Stained Glass Sculptures

You've all seen the usual stained glass artworks at cathedrals or deco building windows, but did any of you know about the artist who pioneered the usage of stained glass for 3D sculpture? Jay Gubitz turned the industry into an artform by innovating a stereotypical 2D media into new heights. Jay was always interested in the process of design, but began his career as a marketing artist. Eventually though, he found his way into glass by enrolling at several workshop courses at the suggestion of his wife, Elaine Gubitz. Using a basic foundation of knowledge from his lessons, he then built on them using trial and error methods. Through his own self-taught art methodologies, he was able to free the stained glass medium of its flat limitations.

Photography and Sculpture Artwork by Jay Gubitz

Jay often got his inspiration from nature, creating soaring depictions of eagles, parrots and other birds. He won several notable recognitions at the Gallery of Excellence at the Glass Craft Expo and the Glastar's competition. When he started, his works mostly showcased a semi-flat silhouette body with a few single layered curves. Later on, many of his avian-inspired sculptures like eagles and seagulls, started to have square bodies and more pronounced wing extremities. An evolution of his process gradually created more and more accurate depictions of wildlife and natural subjects. His most recent works have evolved even in comparison to his previous three dimensional sculptures. Now embodied with Gubitz' roundish organic style of placing glass, his artworks exhibit a life-like realism clad in a peerless technicolor glass exterior.

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Minimalism in Sculpture

For every complexity and detail observed in hyper-realism or naturalism, we can also see an opposite trait within the movement of minimalistic art. Whether sculpture or painting, photography or digital art, minimalism is a basic foundation that appeals to many in the community. Often thought over as elegant, avant-garde mannerisms of design, minimalism actually exhibits the trait of containing the strongest impact in the smallest of bodies. It portrays a certain type of aesthetic beauty that almost anyone can appreciate due to its simplicity in freeform and structure. Artists and theorists argued that minimalism conveyed every message that any other artform could, but through an extremist's definition of simplicity at work.

Free Ride Sculpture by Tony Smith (Minimalism in Sculpture)

The movement derives some of its traits from the Bauhaus period, making use of geometric abstraction. It also arose in combat to the rising complexity of abstract expressionism and non-representative abstract works that were diversely vibrant in color and composition. It was later followed by post-minimalism, which is symbolized by the usage of minimalism merely as a conceptual reference point and not a central theme.

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Sculpting the Environment

The term environmental sculpture will often bring up an image of something green. It would make you thing of something that's alive, or biodegradable, or at the very least something organic. Despite these stereotypical ideas which are not entirely wrong, many environmental sculptures generate there impact and beauty by pooling together the things that surround them and creating an assemblage of sorts. Just like in the picture below, this man-made scenery is actually an example of "Site-Specific" sculpture that resembles a spiral whirlpool in the ocean. This movement of sculpture began from contemporary abstract sculpture, but was transformed by several artists including Robert Irwin, James Turrel and Richard Serra.

Sculpture by Robert Smithson Photgraphy by Soren Harward

Sometimes called "land art" , these large sculptures or scenery designs can take months to create because of their unique media. It is indeed a challenge for any artist to get out there and use the earth as his canvas. Most environmental or site-specific sculptures are public artworks because of their great size and public availability. The artists that create them often have a purpose or message in mind that they would like the world to discover through their art. Popular themes of recent years include global warming, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and remnants of typhoons. Similar to the plop art movement, these works can amass a common area and sometimes by opinionized by many as out of place, although plop art entails much more ostracizing than site-specific art because of its nature to be a random body.

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The Complexities and Risks of Mixed Media

Sculptures in the classical age were all created with stone, wood or precious metals. This signified the ability to last from generation to generation within family possessions. Today however, a popular trend defies this historical observation, the evoloution of mixed media.

Mixed media is a term that people use when refering to works of art that contain two or more substantial or structural media within their main composition. The most popular forms of mixed media art include assemblage sculptures and hybridities between sculpture and other forms of art.

The artist' ability to foresee the combinations of materials can be the reason why many mixed media works often draw a crowd's attention merely from the contrasting beauty of its substances. Combining glass and wood for example is a good start to creating a still life sculpture of a river scene. Mixed media is an opportunity for artists to break down limitations in texture, color and even physical discrepancies. It also measures how much an artist knows about his or hee media as well.

The risks in creating mixed media works can be great. First of all, artists do not often take the long years to master two or more media, it is painstakingly hard to perfect glass casting for example. On the other hand if one would wish to work with glass he may instead go for an assemblage technique and make use of existing glass pieces, bypassing the need to cast anything. The point is, using two media usually means an artist does not have a complete mastery in at least one of them. This can be allocated to risks in stability, immediate presence and environment related issues. Another thing to consider about mixed media artwork, is their consistent originality, some artists make use of combining old or antique wares or manufactured products like plastics. These would most likely have been made by external sources that could close down or disappear in the future, stripping the style of a key medium and forcing it to change consistency. These are some of the issues presented to mixed media art, however they are minor at most and do not always happen to be the case. Mixed media is still a novelty art innovation that continues to surprise our society every day with newer and bolder creations.

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Collecting Sculptres in a Modern Philippines

I've been collecting artworks since my high school days, and I can honestly say that much of the collector population thinks of financial investment at least 60% of the time.. The world of art has been appraised and made to secondarily function as a mini-stock market sometimes, and while many artists and longtime patrons would consider themselves immune to this way of thinking, the average man isn't. When it comes to fine art, there are always other things in mind, aside from aesthetics.

Modern sculpture in the Philippines is a fairly emerging art. Despite the country being home to several thousands of visual artists, the art form of painting has always been the most popular to date. Sculpture has only seen recent re-popularization in the middle class art markets due to the emerging artists that cultivated it despite the advice from the entire community. One fascinating sculptor who's caught my eye is Michael Cacnio, who won the 2006 TOYM Award. He's a social realist and a very impressive brass sculptor in the Philippines, but doesn't come from the same generation as the traditionalist artists. His modern interpretations of Philippine society impressed an international audience with their detail and style.

Another good example would be the artists of the Artasia Fine Art Gallery in SM Megamall. Seb Chua, Noy Gepte and Kylo Chua, started sculpting a little less than a decade ago when no one else (aside from top brass) would go near it in fear of zero sales. The newly formed troupe made their way to the top of the field by garnering several prestigious awards from the Art Association of the Philippines, the Shell National Art Competition and the GSIS Competition. These artists, along with 6 or 7 other friends decided to venture out and explore the world of cast sculpture and mixed media bit by bit. They eventually set up their own gallery at the SM Megamall building A's fourth floor. Throughout the many years that this troupe has been together, I've always considered them one of the best inspirations and hopes for the future of modern sculpture in the Philippines.

Another artist, Ronald Ventura, has grown his fair share of followers over the last few years. His works are definitely deep in theme, and have made their way across international borders to exhibit with different localities around the world. He's also represented the Philippines and southeast Asia during his solo show at the Tyler Rollins Fine Art Gallery in New York city a few years back. Ventura is another prime example of Filipino evolving sculpture. Since his first one-man exhibit “All Souls Day” in 2001, he's set up several distinguished shows and gained the respect of the art world as a modern sculptor. 

Other Philippine sculptors that you may already know, are still very much present in the art scene. The beautiful glass creations of Ramon Orlina make themselves known at every art fair and nationwide exhibit I go to. I've always wondered about this man's curious style of portraying abstract and human beauty through his carving of glass blocks. Needless to say, his status is already that of a master when it comes to technique and form, being honed for over a decade in a craft specialized only by his own two hands. Orlina gives a a new contemporary beauty to glass sculpture, and was recognized for it during several awards around Asia. His presence as one of the leading Filipino sculptor today is definitely a positive push for the future generations of artists.

Sculpture is now being considered top investable art as well, thanks to artists that have just made their mark in a scene overpopulated by painting. Today, the Philippine collectors of the old world are still beginning to show appreciation for such an artform, but the days of the traditionalists are inevitably fading away. A contemporary movement of young and modernist sculptors are ready to set foot on Philippine creativity.

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deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum : A Haven for Young Sculptors

The sculpture park opened its doors back in 1950, but ever since then people have been returning to this wonderful venue for creative thinking.  This thirty five acre location boasts both a wide open area park that hosts more than sixty notable sculptures/artworks at every point in time. Aside from their famous outdoor exhibition, an indoor museum is also home to an array of rotating exhibits made by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists.

The museum constantly also maintains a strong relationships with many of the emerging young artists from the New England pool of sculptors and creative people. The venue hosts several interesting activities related to both sculpture and the fine arts. Talks, interactive tours, classes and other events will be common sights at this place that's open all year round. It also offers one of the largest non-degree granting studios in all of New England. They currently have around 2,000 students of the arts enrolled in classes and workshops made to hone their creative ability.

To find out more about their activities, please visit their website here.

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An Introduction to The Kinds of Sculpture

Cast sculpture is a methodological technique that gives you more versatility in form and contour, but also creates a lasting artpiece that you can hand down from generation to generation. Here, abstract cast sculptures by sculptor Kylo Chua exhibit a flowing continuity through illusory motion. Kylo’s sculptures give an idea of what artists think when they seek to “defy a medium’s limitation”. Sculpture is something hard and solid, generally static and immovable. These examples showcase the fluidity that a concrete work of art can actually portray given the right mannerisms.

Unlike its counterpart- carved sculpture, cast sculpting requires a negative mould of the figure to be made. This is done by using plaster, silicone rubber or any other moulding agent suitable to your material. The mould is then used to cast a positive version of the design using materials such as marble, bronze, glass and precious metals.

Carved Sculpture is the traditionalist and older methodology of the artform. Artworks made by this technique are usually very dense and durable, withstanding natural weathering effects and even time itself. In the Philippines, there are many notable sculptors that make use of this method, such as Fred Baldemor who sculpts using alabaster stone gained directly from natural deposits. He carves representational figures with extraordinary attention to detail and texture that sometimes it makes you forget the hard material he used in the first place.

Carving can make use of many unique tools, from the basic chisel to the modern water-jet saw. Each tool has its own benefits and limitations as well. For the most part, a chisel will give you a great deal of accuracy in small detail, but will consume most of your working time. One traditionalist sculptor, who tried carving glass is now known for his unique process. Ramon Orlina began glass sculpture over ten years ago by utilizing  the unconventional method of carving abstractions from solid green blocks of asahi glass. Today, his glass works are in galleries all over the world.

Assemblage Sculpture is one of the newer techniques in the variety of sculpting methods. This one take the notion of a “collage” and applies it to a three dimensional idea by constructing a unified subject from several different  objects. Assemblage is usually used by younger sculptors because of its diversity in material. It has grown popular within this niche society also because of its easy cost and availability. The most common place to find such sculpture are at art shows depicting an abstract or interpretive theme. Assemblage sculptors love to modify something they see in the real world and turn it into a visual rendering by their own hands.

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