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Relief Artist, Sculptor, Painter
Artist Mission Statement
My mission is to produce art whenever possible, and to produce craft when it is not possible to produce art.
If this doesn't immediately resonate for you, let me explain my slightly uncommon view...
Craft products are anything man made that affirms a zeitgeist. A zeitgeist is the spirit of the times, a whole collection of ideas of what is considered valuable, real, and meaningful, at any particular time and place. A zeitgeist can apply to an individual, a group, or a nation. Craft products are readily recognized, accepted, and valued because they affirm a zeitgeist. Craft products can be tangible or intangible, and creative or mundane. A wrench, insurance, service, software, holiday decorations, and sofa paintings are clear examples of contemporary US craft products. They are not rare, and they are easy to understand and use, within the collection of ideas that is the contemporary US zeitgeist.
Art products evoke the question "What is different between what our senses tell us and what we understand?", while craft products do just the opposite; they affirm a prevailing zeitgeist. Simply put, art products shake things up, and yield a greater understanding of something. Art products shake things up by drawing attention to the countless gaps in any zeitgeist, and art products yield greater understanding when they fill in a gap or rewrite a piece of a zeitgeist. Art products motivate us to wake up and acknowledge something, while craft products tend to lull us into complacency, and even delusion. Though, with all due respect, craft products do counter any gap-induced ennui. As for art products, they are rare, and they can be every bit as useful as a wrench, if what you need, or what you want, happens to be hidden by zeitgeist.
I like to sculpt and paint. I find endless satisfaction in creating craft and art. Speaking from my own experience, I find that people who creatively construct things are happier than most, even if they're only making things as a sideline or a hobby. In 2003 and 2004 I started busily sculpting and molding a collection of reliefs, to produce relief paintings. Relief paintings are a dynamic art form; they work with the daily and seasonal lighting changes in a space. My goal as an artist is not only to explore for myself by creating art, but also to create a venue for an entertaining exploration by anyone viewing the art. My relief paintings accomplish this goal by offering both an outward venue and an inward venue for exploration. Outwardly, the viewer can be compelled by the notion to pick up and hold a relief object, experiencing and exploring the object, as if the object can become three dimensional. Inwardly, there is just enough relief in the structures to draw the viewer in, to allow the viewer to confabulate, explore, and experience interiors; moments of confabulation can be moments when art happens. The early bas reliefs I sculpted led me immediately into the idea of relief paintings. I plan to continue to produce relief art, and any other art forms that feel promising.
Copyright © 2007 Wayne Pearson. All rights reserved.