Sculpturism delves into the paradox of rendering the vibrant, shifting essence of life through a medium that traditionally signifies permanence, stillness, and even finality. The philosophy behind this movement springs from the intent to ironize the fleeting, colorful aspects of the contemporary world by casting them in the mold of sculpture: static, timeless, monochrome, and stoic. This ironic framework allows Sculpturism to not only contrast but also critique modern life, as it symbolically "freezes" moments, emotions, and concepts that are otherwise in constant flux.
Sculpturism asks the artist to employ a unique visual "filter," one that transforms subjects into timeless artifacts, as if captured through the eyes of an ancient sculptor. In this vision, people, objects, and ideas are reinterpreted as statues or relics, stripped of their movement, vitality, and immediate energy. Beginning with sculpting the subjects as a practice helps the artist immerse in this worldview, allowing them to distill the subjects down to their most essential forms. However, the true essence of Sculpturism emerges when this filter fully takes hold, to the point where sculpting is no longer required. Instead, the artist envisions the subject as if already 'stoned' into permanence, seeing the world itself as an unchanging relic and capturing it as such. This process becomes akin to "killing" or "stoning" the subject on the canvas, where the act of creating the sculpture removes the natural life from the figure, reducing it to a form. This form, painted into the canvas, holds a dual identity: it is both a representation and a commentary, suggesting that by fixing it into an artwork, the artist effectively removes its fluid, temporal identity, exposing a raw, underlying essence.
In essence, Sculpturism can be seen as a powerful critique of the world’s fleeting nature. By encapsulating the "live" world in a "dead" format, it holds up a mirror to the contrast between the ever-changing present and the unchanging way art captures and remembers it. This approach also hints at a cultural critique: a world that idolizes speed, progress, and novelty is ironically remembered through art that makes it lifeless and permanent. This transformation, achieved through both sculpting and painting, strips away the distractions of color, expression, and animation to reveal what is perhaps the truest form of the subject: something unchanging, foundational, and paradoxically timeless.
At the same time, Sculpturism embraces this irony with a sense of reverence. The "filter" the artist employs doesn't seek to mock or diminish life’s vibrancy but instead to offer a new lens through which we can view it. It compels the viewer to consider what lies beneath the surface of the vibrant contemporary world, encouraging a reflection on the layers and structures that may otherwise go unnoticed in our rush through life. In Sculpturism, the irony becomes an aesthetic tool that simultaneously critiques and venerates the subject, demanding contemplation on what is revealed when life is "stoned" into its most bare, unembellished form.
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