I have always been interested in using the human form as a vehicle for expression in sculpture. There is so much variety in gesture and so much to explore in facial forms that I have been absorbed for over forty years.
To build a monumental figure at over ten feet is not as easy as making it life size or smaller. The problem grows exponentially when one gets over ten feet. The exception to this problem is ameliorated to some degree when one uses clay or plaster to build the work and then has it cast in bronze. This, however, is both time-consuming and very expensive, reducing the possibility of experimentation and spontaneity.
I felt that direct modeling in steel would, if I could find a way, solve these problems. Not only is it much less expensive,but it is much faster. There is no six month wait for the foundry to make its mold, turn the work into wax, make a second mold for pouring the bronze, and then finishing it after it is cast. With the direct metal technique every mark one places on the steel is potentially useable, so sculpture becomes more immediate, like painting, and as a result the artist can change the work even when it is supposedly finished. Of course the drawbacks are that it can require a great deal of physical energy and a profound knowledge of human anatomy.
A large focus of my efforts have been directed toward the process of trying to create a language that would express organic human form and would be truly monumental in size. The main reason for the requirement of large size sculpture is that outdoor public monuments are the only works that a whole culture can relate to collectively. When we view large public works that inspire us we feel connected to our environment and to our culture at large.
Much of the modern public sculptures that I have seen do not address a new expression of the human form. When the figure is rendered, it is either very abstract or old hat realism. I have, over the years, strived to create a modern language for the expression of human gesture, and as a consequence have revitalized the renaissance idea of the figure as the ultimate creative form.
