Zero Minus Nothing

A direct sculpture in alabaster. Dimensions are approximately 5" by 4.5" by 2". This sculpture was completed September 2001.

Setting forth on a new sculpture is not unlike how I imagine it must have been for a sea captain sailing a merchant ship two years ago. Like a captain I have rules I follow which lay in a basic course. Then it's up to me to look and listen to the ever changing stone taking direction from the clues revealed as its form slowly appears.

After the first few moment I have a relatively good idea of the general form a sculpture will take. But it isn't until late in the process near the final moments when the sculpture will reveal its hidden inner form. This inner form lives in the subtleties of the piece -- the gentlest breath of a suggestion.

This final phase of sculpting, after the inner form has become apparent, may be why I sculpt. It is here that I study the the piece with rapt attention -- strokes of the rasp removing bits here and there -- bringing the sculpture into final form.