the athlete

[rbsculpture]

MY IMAGE(S):







GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: the athlete
Year Created: 2002
Medium: Sculpture
Surface: Bronze
Dimension: 4 x 7 x 26 in
Allow digital alterations?: Yes!

MY COMMENTS:
Just looking for input. On what people see and how they interpret this personal work.

MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
Any thoughts on the way I have directed the fragmentation?

[Corby]

It has the presence of modern day man and the grace and beauty of ancient Greece. An extremely beautiful piece. The fragmentation is perfect one can easily with the minds eye fill in what is missing . "Athlete" seems too generic a term for it. "Finishing the Race"?

[LarrySeiler]

has a classical yet contemporary feel...which I like! I think well done...

Larry

[gaugin]

I've looked at the expression in the face several times. And my impression is it is sort of lonesome, nearly sad. But I'm uncertain if that is the lighting.
Enjoy the fragmentation and the sporatic layers. Yet I get the sense of movement. If I was in a gallery viewing this, and you there I would probably have a dozen questions to you about this piece. Most probably pretty mundane for a sculpture to hear. You would have to hang a "do not touch sign" on it, for the tactial quality I would have to experience.
Not sure if i'm qualified to critic such a work, I like the classics to Henry Moore. The best I can do is give you my honest reaction to it.

[vyala]

Richard,

nor do I feel qualified to "critique" this work - but you asked for inputs and I can only talk about an emotional reaction. I don't want to talk about what seems perfect to me, figure, the way you mounted the fragments to a harmonius whole. The face is full of emotion - I see sadness as well.
But what seems strange to me is the mount of the figure. It disturbs me deeply and it seems to me not the right way that such a filigrane figure should stand on such a rather plump pole which seems to grow directly out of the fragmented knee.
Sorry if I sound totally stupid - but for me it diminishes the classical beauty of this sculpture. I have absolutely no idea what could be done differently, whether the mounting pole could be thinner or placed at a different point. I have never done a fragmented figure myself but only totals.

[jocelynsart]

I am not great at commenting on sculpture. I do really love the style of the way you have left the remnants of "working" on the clay signs; the textural shapes, on the figure. I have to admit I don't understand the concept of leaving the limbs cut off like that. the only reason I can come up with with my limited knowledge and expereince with sculpting and sculpture is that it is meant to have an ancient, and therefore "found in damaged state" feel to it; hence the Classical or antiquity feel it seems to have.

The face does have a sort of daydreaming or slightly in the rapture of one's own thoughts to it. The title causes me to want to see concentrated energy coming form the face as opposed to what is there but really, that is just a personal reaction.

Your work is beautiful to view, I love the surface of the figure, the way you did this. I envy sculptors as I really could never never seem to tackle this medium at all. My son at 11 sculpts better than I could as an adult.

Jocelyn

[rbsculpture]

Hi Everyone,
Thank you all for your thoughts and comments so far.
Corvus, re the title, this is a piece I created without any preconceived theme. It just was born and named later. I was thinking / feeling a about my own rat race life, my competitive nature, deisre to leave a mark, e.g. why for example I am compelled to sculpt in all my free time instead of just enjoting the moments of life, etc.... Gaugin, maybe that is where some of the melancholy expression comes in. I'm not sure. I actually don't recall much about making this piece -- I often get up at night and do these small works...

Jocelyn, re your comment, I get this alot, including from my wife

Originally Posted by jocelynsart

...I don't understand the concept of leaving the limbs cut off like that. the only reason I can come up with with my limited knowledge and expereince with sculpting and sculpture is that it is meant to have an ancient, and therefore "found in damaged state" feel to it; hence the Classical or antiquity feel it seems to have.

Not trying to sound too artsy, but I don't see cut-off ("blown-off" as my wife describes it) limbs, I see what is there -- the central portion. I felt the rest was unneccessary, not an attempt to look like an ancient piece. In painting or drawing this is simpler to do I suppose --- focusing only on particular elements, leaving the rest out. Knowing / deciding when to stop is always the challenge. My favorite works, of other artists as well, tend to be the least finished, where I can the tool marks (the real stuff, not faked), the process breaking thru, the damage in the studio, etc, Like some Degas bronzes (posthumous castings) where you see crumbled clay and armature wire. Anyway, I'm rambling, but yes, some are disturbed by the way I've left off parts.

Petra, I like the idea of a thinner mount, something that would look less like an extension of the leg. If I do another cast, I will try that. Perphaps substantially darker than the body as well. The composition is really a 5-pointed star, this might draw that out.

Again, thanks for all the comments.

Richard

back to a big, technical piece.... http://www.richardbecker.com/poway_art_center.htm (yes, this piece will have arms )