ARTIST STATEMENT – Michael Bednar, Sculptor

As a professional architect my education, training and life long experience inform my sculpture in numerous ways. My art work involves defining space, use of geometry, shaping natural light and reverence for materials.

NO.1 – All sculpture involves the shaping of space within the piece and its context. As such it induces you to experience these spaces by movement around the piece. This makes the piece come alive as viewpoints change. A static entity becomes animated. It may also induce one to occupy the piece by vicariously entering its interior spaces.

Thus, I am interested in expressing spatial concepts based on words; close, far, adjacent, above, below, etc. This can be done using geometric planar forms or volumes.

NO. 2 – All sculpture also involves the shaping of light, primarily natural light in all of its nuances and gradations. Natural light makes a static piece animated as it changes appearance thorough out the day. The shadows are part of the sculpture falling on the ground, context or the piece itself.

NO. 3 – All sculpture also relates to human scale which is the measure of all experience. Whether larger, smaller or the same size as the human figure, we imbue sculpture with our anthropomorphic attitude. Regarding space and light, sculpture is like architecture except it has no utilitarian function. It also does not have to abide by the human scale of occupation.

NO. 4 – All sculpture is made of materials each of which has its own properties of strength, color and texture. Each material is shaped using tools which leave their marks. The materials are assembled through gravity, welding, bolting or other forms of joining to create additive pieces. The materials can be left in their natural state, finished for texture and pattern or coated to provide a surface finish.