Linda Stein

My current sculpture series, Knights, responds to a changing world by communicating images of strength and protection. Scrambling expectations of power/vulnerability, masculinity/femininity, and warrior/peacemaker, these heroic torsos can be seen in different perspectives, as alternately ancient or contemporary.

The incorporation of everyday materials and glyphs (word fragments that recall an ancient writing system), along with primal elements of stone, metal, and wood, creates a timeless and universal quality. These “traces of civilization,” which fuse to become a larger-than-life figure, are then transformed into bronze.

With their archaic and symbolic boldness, Knights enhance a sense of courage and power in the viewer. They have an uplifting and expansive quality that harmonizes well with celebration and memorial. They can be both a call to action and a stimulus in contemplation, inviting the viewer both to touch and to travel visually over their surfaces. Knights are iconic even as their complexity permits viewers to discover something new on each visit: to meditate, to celebrate, to be inspired, and to return again and again.

– L.S.

Knight of Tomorrow 574, 2008 bronze 78 x 25 x 14 in.