Making big clay bodies. the working title of my new work is ‘back to earth’ . It feels like it is time for that, time to come back after a long journey. The journey that began with heading for the purple planet or maybe even with paradise of surrender. I am for the moment done with installations, too many objects that take up too much storage space. I really want to go back to making proper sculptures. Like, a normal full scale sculpture instead of objects. And of course clay. Back to my basics. Came to realise that actually after going from the expulsion of paradise to looking for a refuge in heading for the purple planet but instead ending up in the desired state and from there through the dark wood to going through the narrow third passage I end up back to earth. A 16 year cyclic journey where I saw many situations and felt a wide range of emotions that all had a hand in the process of becoming to understand myself as a human being, myself as an artist and myself in the world better.
Now it is time to come back to earth and land where I belong. Because there is only so much what I am and can do ‘‘You are what remains after everything you are not’’. This said I really believe and feel I am, artistwise, above all a sculptor because there is nothing in the world of art that moves or enrages me as much as a good or a bad sculpture. Even my own. It can from time to time shame me thinking I made many bad sculptures. But what can I do, I have to live with that. I recently read in the book ‘shaping the world’ by anthony gormley and that Michaelangelo supposedly said that one makes a good sculpture when after rolling it down a mountain it still looks like a ssculpture. Meaning that every inch of the sculpture must have a sculptural quality of it’s own. pfff…. if one thinks of that one never makes anything anymore. I don’t try to think of that. I try to work as best as I can and see every moment I work on my sculpture as holy time. Time that I do something that I like. No matter what the outcome will be (not really true ;)
And now, after making three sculptures, I have to think, what is the next step. what do these works want of me? What can I offer them? what is the sacrifice that I have to make? Are they for bronze and so forever or do I offer them to the garden and let them become one with nature?
She is definitely thinking about it.
