Airbrushed and glazed earthenware, steel, aluminum.
Size: 92" H x 182" W x 92" D
The life-sized ceramic figure is press-molded and assembled using latex and plaster molds. Color underglazes are applied with an airbrush, over which transparent matte and textural glazes are brushed. The piece is glaze fired to Cone 03 in two stacked electric octagonal kilns.
As a sculptor my conceptual focus is the metaphysical and the state of human consciousness. Central to my personal ideology is the connectedness of all aspects of our world. Installation-oriented figurative sculptures are my vehicle to reflect a perspective on these relationships. Sculpting the human body and placing it within a created context permits me to interpret the consciousness as an outward reflection within the surroundings. Recent installations incorporate linear metal constructions within the tableaux; settings in which the life size ceramic and gypsum figures move. The steel linear forms possess the graphic and gestural quality apparent in line drawings and calligraphy. My new installation "Guardian" portrays the body as a filter for consciousness, and mental attitude as central to the individual experience of reality.
In this way I feel that the body is the most sacred of vessels.
Nan Smith. USA
nan@ufl.edu