 |
|
|
|
  |
Featured Artists |
Richard Brachman
 |
Hope, 2010
Oak wood, galvanized threaded rod, washers, nuts
120 (h) x 123 (w) x 95 (d) in. |
My purpose in creating art is to provoke thoughts on social issues that affect all of us. The Earth's environment is a critical issue that requires immediate attention. Today we are faced with the specter of global weather change and the prospect of famine and disease associated with it. Recently we have witnessed the results of our dependence on fossil fuels, dependence that is the cause for global weather change, the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and for wars fought over oil.
The sculpture "Hope" uses a spiral shape as its main design element. This shape suggests forceful movement with a purpose and the circular shape is symbolic of continuity and wholeness. The twirling motion of the interior wood timbers is a reference to windmills, which can simply and cleanly harness Nature's energy to produce unlimited electrical power. The sculpture wants to create a feeling of positive energy that symbolizes the new direction the U.S. and the world must take in order to overcome the environmental challenges confronting us.
My background as an architect and builder gives me an appreciation of interior space as well as external massing. I incorporate this understanding by building sculpture with an open design, showing both the exterior and the interior of the piece. This open quality allows views through the sculpture thus including the surroundings and making them part of it. By leaving the "ends" open, I invite the viewer to visually enter the sculpture and have a different experience from that of the outside.
» Richard Brachman's website
|
|
|
