The Question....

 

SQ & Sculptors ALL, 17 July 2015

It is the age old question: What really constitutes a sculpture?

I have already experimented with both Paper Mache & Paper Plaster sculpture. As simple mediums, I believe they allow artists to create art without a lot of expensive tools & infrastructure?

My granddaughter’s 2nd grade class would certainly argue that their ‘Frodo Frog Sculpture I helped them to create in polystyrene, newspaper & low aspect fibre plaster, is for them – genuinely a sculpture.

Can anybody really argue that the images of flower sculptures I recently forwarded to some of you, require any less artistic skill to conceive of, fabricate & create, than working in stone, wood, wire, wax, ICE or leather?? Shall we deny SQ Membership to Erica Gray because she ONLY uses SOFT mediums. Was an infamous previous Exec Member correct when he decried – ‘Who cares if she quits SQ, she is only a Potter!’

Does using a chainsaw on a log sculpture require any more or less creative skill than using a air hammer on a block of stone?

 

When Carol Moss & I use Cement Render as the outer medium of a sculpture, does my use of Polystyrene as an armature make that sculpture any less of a sculpture than the one I used Steel Rebar as the armature? In their present ‘Tactile’ Exhibition, should the creative residents of Multicap Centre feel any less fulfilled, because their paper, cardboard, wool & clay creations, are displayed alongside my wood, sandstone & marble creations?

ALL Art has always been "what is seen in the eyes of the creator & the beholder". Everyone has a ‘gut feeling’ as to what they like artistically.

As an Artist, if my end result displays my artistic skill to the level that I am best capable of & satisfied with, then I can feel I have accomplished something for myself.

What other beholders believe about my accomplishment can determine my artistic status in the public domain, but that does not negate my own artistic self-worth.

Picasso must have had a very strong feeling of self-worth to have continued creating his multi-media works, which generally did not ‘fit in’ with the general public & ‘Academy’ artistic standards of the day.

Presently, we are faced with a new artistic medium & methodology challenge.

 

If an artist uses a computer 3D generator or computer controlled laser cutter to create a ‘sculpture’, should he be considered an ‘Artist’ in the traditional sense of the term?

Artistically, what fate awaits us as the sculptors in SQ & in all other sculpture promotion orgs, when a member of the public can go to "The Reject Shop" or Kmart or Bunnings stores & buy a $20 sculpture made in a Asian Sweat Shop assembly lines, & be satisfied that they have a Genuine Sculpture in their possession? 

 

 

No different it would seem than buying a ‘Print’ of a Rembrandt & believing that they now have ‘real art’ on their home walls?

The answer, I presume is = if they are happy, then creative artists will just have to Cop it – as they always have and always will in the future?

I hereby abandon my ‘Soap Box’!
Cheers & Joy in Sculpting,
Perry Wagner-Grose
"2015 SQ Roving Ambassador-at-Large & Librarian"