Sculpture and Burial Practices

image from neatorama

"Now that the living outnumber the dead...........Speak my language." (From her 1994 album Bright Red. Thank you, Laurie Anderson.)

It's happening already. In Singapore the dead are being dug up and cemeteries closed to make room for the living. "Essentially, it is a spatial competition between the living and the dead." said Lily Kong, Director of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, who has studied funeral practices. And that means a shift throughout the region to crematoria and columbaria.

Columbaria comes from Latin meaning a dovecote? Like the many nesting sites for pigeons but now human resting sites. That's means many changes for a culture where ancestors are revered and graves are a place of worship.

How does this relate to sculpture?

When the Singapore exhumation is completed, the headstone is smashed and trucked away as rubble and used in landfill or new construction. No more existing record of the person or of funerary art. Keep in mind that much of what we know about any ancient culture comes from intact burial sites.

New traditions are emerging- all digital, include web sites designed from mourning rituals that sell virtual candles, flowers, and offerings. But nothing tangible. NO SCULPTURE!yikes!.

Writing this, Dot's song from Sunday in the Park With George by Sondheim comes to mind.

If you want instead when you're dead
Some more public and more permanent expression
Of affection
You want a painter, poet, sculptor preferably
Marble, granite, bronze
Something nice with swans,
That's durable forever..........................my sentiments exactly.

Sculpture and AAC

It's not a noble material.

AAC stands for autoclaved aerated concrete. The mix is heated and expanded with lots of air. It's sort of the stay puffed pastry version of concrete. Used primarily as a light weight building material, for insulation, it's an interesting new medium for sculpture.

You can carve it very quickly, it's soft enough that you can use a bread knife or anything handy to carve, rasp, file it. I hogged out the background with my drill press and a dull bit and then used a small stone comb tool and my steel gouges.



Available in 24 x 12 x 12 inch blocks, I cut each block in half lengthwise for these reliefs. Each new carving took about a day to complete. That's fast.




These new carvings are going to debut at Portland's Yard Garden Patio Show this weekend.

Sculpture and Tableaux

Brother Jerome visits the moon.

Sculpture can be beautiful in itself, but it comes to life when it's contrasted with other things. Away from the void of the gallery, sculpture creates relationships between things. Stories emerge.

That's what happened with this beautiful sheet of special production, reactive glass from Bullseye Glass. It's a new year's gift from Roger Thomas. The mysterious pthalo blue/green evokes Chinese mountains and the sea. It looks like a brush full of watercolor plunged into pure water in a white bowl.

I placed the little 19th Century carved mannikin, dressed as a monk for a St Francis study, and the hand carved volcanic stone sphere in front of it. I don't know why, but I heard the title: "Brother Jerome visits the Moon" It's like a 3D fable.........

Sculpture and Architecture

A serious building gets silly.

Inflation is hitting the museum world. In a good way.

Nicolai Ouroussoff, architecture critic for the New York Times, reviews plans for two inflatable additions by the New York firm Diller Scodidio and Renfro to the Hirshhorn Museum.

One bubble would fill the central atrium and literally pop up past the roof. It would be used as a 1,000 seat auditorium and allow for performing arts and film series to use the museum. Another smaller pod would serve as a cafe/lounge.

The inflatables would allow the Hirshhorn to avoid restrictions on permanent additions as they can be blown up and taken down quickly. Read the article here

I just hope they give Claus Oldenburg a percentage of the admissions when the inflatables are up....

Sculpture and Hand Made Hideous

Several folks have suggested I sell my sculpture on Etsy.

"I know you'd have to change the size, material and content of your work, and do production work instead of fine art, but you could, like, you know, SELL THiNGS!"

Sigh... I've actually considered doing it, then I found Regretsy.

"Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet." is their tagline. Regretsy is a snarky take on the earnest hand-made scene. I browsed their SOLD page and learned that what was hot on Etsy was hilarious on Regretsy.


Posted by "Helen Killer" who writes, "I don’t know what the “freebies” are that come with these hideous sneakers, but with any luck they’ll be change of address forms. Because as soon as someone in your neighborhood sees you wearing these things, you’re on the list to get your emo weepy ass kicked every f'ing day for the rest of your pathetic life."

Brutal. But sometimes a critique is necessary.

Sculpture and Promotion

Everyone's a critic.

"I don't know art but I do know crap when I see it!"

A good friend sent me this:

"The writer responds to questions about "how to make a living writing", and he replys - "it's like cleaning calf pens, you shovel until you get a big enough pile that someone notices."

I think your pile might be big enough this year, Patrick."


Let's all hope that my art pile is large enough to attract the right kind of attention, not the Environmental Protection Agency.

(Photo from Food Freedom website)

Sculpture and Architecture in Novi Sad, Serbia II

More photos from Novi Sad, Serbia to share with you. Taken from the Serbian sculptor's website, ALT DEUTSCH SILBERHOLZ