The Art of Charles Pilkey

ARTIST`S STATEMENT

The sculptor - a beachcomber wandering the boundless shore of the world, collecting pretty shells and unusual wave-washed shapes and assembling them into artworks. But the shore is the edge of the unconscious and the shells and wave-washed shapes are the flotsam and jetsam of World Culture, tossed up by the waves of time.

It`s humbling to consider how ancient the lineage of sculpture is; by some reckoning it goes back several hundred thousand years. Some issues - love, birth, death - have always been of interest to the sculptor. Other issues have changed with the advance of technology. But the technical and formal concerns of Phidias, Unkei, Michelangelo and all the other masters of form, are much the same for the contemporary artist. And like them, we too want to give free flight to private visions, even while feeling the cold chains of mortality tugging at our throats.

Writing about one's work is a risky venture. It takes time away from the studio and in extreme cases, the artist`s conceptual framework becomes more important than the work itself. But to remain silent denies the pleasure of sharing the intellectual experience of one's art. The trick is to find a balance between saying too little and saying too much, all the while keeping in mind that the real power of art is the non-verbal, emotional experience it can offer us.

I`ve been influenced by everyone and no one. Rodin, Noguchi, Japanese gardens and tribal art were early influences on my work, but in recent years I`ve gone directly to nature for inspiration. My allegiance is more to the unique, highly individualistic visionaries of the past -  Bosch and Blake and others - than to any contemporary movement.

I make two kinds of sculpture. One consists of simple abstract forms derived from nature that have little content (unless you consider beauty as content). Their purpose is to relax the mind, to offer escape and temporary release from the exigencies of daily life.

The other works have a more specific content, usually connected to the theme of technology. Their purpose is to engage the viewer's intellect, to suggest ideas, to invite speculation about the rise of technology and our subsequent emergence from nature. Nature, humanity and technology are three interconnected parts of the same system. I`m interested in where this system may be moving.

Sculptor's Haiku

Hands cratered and scarred Spitting out dust from his dreams He carves the moonlight

PHILOSOPHY

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