Artists Describing Their Art:
James Piatt - i'm a conceptual artist working in a wide range of media and concepts. My major influences have been from the post war artists such as J.Beuys, with whom i corresponded and created empathic and political works in the 60's and 70's. I am interested in all information related to man , nature and aesthetics. I find the European aesthetic and American concepts/context in combination most interesting. A critic proposed," Piatt is an idiosyncratic and very individual artist who has been pursuing his own path for years without receiving the level of attention his work deserves. Perhaps this is because of the disturbing character of his sculpture and prints, which are both enigmatic and transgressive." ...
John Searles - John Searles is a metal artist & sculptor with work in more than 2000 collections across the country, including hotels, businesses and homes. His experience includes working with aluminum, copper, bronze, steel and stainless steel. His body of work includes sculptures, metal weavings, metal art tiles, wall sculptures, photography, paintings and websites. The metal wall sculptures of John Searles reflect his enduring interests in mathematical patterns, design, movement, energy and freedom and are an expression of his on-going dialogue with the metals he works with - aluminum, steel, stainless steel, copper and bronze. John Searles' background in poetry, painting and photography has heavily influenced his focus on shape and design. At times his artwork appears to depict the fluid movements of a Kung Fu master, or the flight patterns of a bird catching insects in the summer evening air. Other times, the metal represents dancers intertwined. John Searles lives and works in a converted 5600 square foot factory on three acres of land near Lake Michigan. The front third of the building is a light-filled gallery. The back part is a tool- and work table-filled space with two garage doors and a view out over the property to the ...
Pica Mertvago - Sculpture offers me an opportunity to impose my aesthetic sense on the world around me, to give spontaneous expression to my feelings and ideas in a palpable three-dimensional form. The human figure is the natural embodiment for such feelings and ideas as they spring from the human heart and mind, and my figurative works seek to incarnate this. I interpret the reality I observe through the prism of what is pleasing to me. This is especially true for me when executing portraits, because portraits must be more than a mere reflection of a person's external appearance. To succeed, they must reveal the subject's underlying character and psyche, both of which have together molded the individual's recognizable features and personality. ...