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| "Flower"-- mixed media wall sculpture |
As a contemporary artist, I am faced with a large and exciting choice of materials with which to express my ideas and concepts. As stimulating as that currently is, it has not always been the case.
For centuries, artists had narrower choices. Oil and watercolors, ink, and crayon for picture makers. Sculptors used clay, plaster, carved stone and cast bronze. Wood was the province of humbler folk carvers, not professional sculptors.
At the beginning of the twentieth century all began to change, for which I and many others are grateful. Picasso and other artists in Paris began to utilize elements from ordinary life. Collage, which literally means “pasting” in French, became the new cut-and-paste technique for creating a wide range of compositions on paper. Parts of newspapers, wallpaper
For centuries, artists had narrower choices. Oil and watercolors, ink, and crayon for picture makers. Sculptors used clay, plaster, carved stone and cast bronze. Wood was the province of humbler folk carvers, not professional sculptors.
At the beginning of the twentieth century all began to change, for which I and many others are grateful. Picasso and other artists in Paris began to utilize elements from ordinary life. Collage, which literally means “pasting” in French, became the new cut-and-paste technique for creating a wide range of compositions on paper. Parts of newspapers, wallpaper
elements and popular illustrations were incorporated.
Later in the twentieth century, three-dimensional constructions followed, using wood, metal, glass, plaster and other everyday materials. The industrial technique of welding was adopted by sculptors, to build spatial constructions, using both linear and solid forms.
Today, artists can freely choose substances ranging from ropes and fibers to plastics, china plates, preserved animals and fabrics—you name it. Possibilities are wide and stimulating. This is a major reason why art today is so exciting—for viewers, collectors and not least of all, for us artists ourselves.
Robert,
ReplyDeleteSuch a perfect, succinct way of explaining why we are living in such a good time for artists, in the larger long time span sense at least. The current economy is making it so difficult for so many of us artists to just do our work at all, no matter how many wonderful mediums we have available to us. Spoken like the excellent art historian that you are, and your work completely exemplifies this point you are making here!
Kathy