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RICHARD ERDMAN
(b. 1952)

Artist's  Statement

 

I am drawn to the mystery of opposing energies in concept, material, and form. I find that within physics, the diametrical forces of life are exposed at their most fundamental, interesting, and engaging levels. In the apparent chaos of a beehive, there is order, purpose, and meaning. Polarity is like the food of nature and our own human genome; opposites attract, and within the

tumultuous storm of attraction, we find passion, expression, and beauty.

 

I carve stone as I see life: from the inside out. I am always exploring, experimenting, pushing technical possibilities, and searching for more than meets the eye – it is my sense that life is 99% invisible; in the sublime beauty of stone, there are worlds of possibility and wonder. In the process of carving away 80­ - 90% of marble from the original blocks, there exists what I call a ‘released compression,’

a result of having been deep within the Earth for 300 million years.

 

I intend for my sculptures to contain ‘complementary contrasts’ in their asymmetry, while maintaining an imperceptible balance of form and linear direction. Within these disparities – a beehive of activity – there exists a calm presence of mind. Because each of the sculptures are carved from a single, massive block of stone, a unity of opposites is intuited and felt by the viewer, first on a visceral level rather than an intellectual one; that is, we know instinctively that the connectivity within these diverse sculptures is as solid as the stone itself.  

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