Richard Scherr: LINES

March 17 – April 29, 2018

Artist Talk: Saturday, March 24, 2 PM
Reception: Saturday, March 24, 4-6 PM

SOLO GALLERY

ARTISTS STATEMENT

My sculpture is an exploration into the possibilities of line, or vector as both form and subject. While line is common to virtually all the 2 and 3 dimensional arts, it is primarily used as a way of describing the edge, or contour of a singular shape or volume, defining itself from the surrounding context. In the case of my work, I prefer to use line as the actual substance, the internal fabric of the sculpture, rather than merely an edge condition. In this way, line becomes a strategy of opening the work, embracing and unifying space both within and beyond the object.

Generating form as a line rather than shaped planes or volumes is a method of making sculpture equivalent to drawing in space, explored earlier by many sculptors, including Picasso, David Smith, and others. Drawing is a human gesture, free and spontaneous, a searching, extended process of exploration. An example (and inspiration for my work) are the drawings of Giacometti, in which the multiplicity of lines (some were possibly mistakes to be changed, some to be reinforced, some are to be replicated) gradually shape a desired formal expression.

My work similarly explores form as gesture, or approximation, rather than a precise, static contour. The approach is to imperfectly repeat multiple lines, highly intuitive, and non-systematic. These “searching” lines occupy alternate locations and multiple possibilities of definition, resulting in a blurring of contour that defies a fixed, static reading. The resulting overlay of contours produces forms which occupy multiple positions in space, unstable, in unresolved states of transformation.

This exploration through lines which are changing and imprecise reflect our current times of uncertainty. Yet paradoxically, we also possess digital tools of unparalleled precision, allowing us to produce complex images and forms which are beyond our hand’s ability to draw, carve, or assemble. Given such tools, even the most advanced craft cannot compete; striving for perfect execution is a dead end. I prefer to allow the traces, blemishes, and questionable choices in my work to come through, and exist openly as a product of human limitations rather than technological perfection.

The lines sometimes suggest human action (unravelling, leaping) organic forms (insect-like, fetus-like) or states of transformation (approximate replication, form emerging out of another). Readings shift back and forth, from abstraction to reality and points in between, resulting in states of tension, ambiguity and indecision.

It is intended that the lines, through their variability and imprecision become animated, and charged with organic force. Any single contour occupies one possible position in space, but is unstable, in a continual state of transformation, seemingly in motion. The desired result is repeating lines in a dynamic state of flux, imperfectly resolved–as dynamic and variable as life itself.

2018 Solo Shows were selected by juror Kenise Barnes, Director and owner of Kenise Barnes Fine Art.