© 2012 Associated Artists of Pittsburgh | 6300 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 | Fax: 412.361.1371 | Phone: 412.361.1370
Richard Claraval
Contact Information
E-mail:
rclaraval@gmail.com
Website:
http://www.richardclaraval
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home
Artist Statement
The flowing draperies of the Baroque and Romantic eras that swirl eurhythmically around the human figure, the beautiful paths carved through space by athletes and dancers, and the many wild possibilities for future human evolution, are all inspirations for my sculpture. But, instead of having these abstract elements exist near the figure, I tightly fuse them with it, extending it physically and emotionally. Because it is very light relative to it’s mass, my medium of styrafoam is well suited to these inspirations. It allows sculptures to have a new relation to their spaces, by enabling seemingly massive forms to extend many feet into space with no external support, and quite large sculptures to appear almost to “float” on nearly invisible nylon lines. Also, all of my sculptures are coated with polyurethane-polyurea (Styrospray), a product specifically designed to cover styrafoam that, without increasing it's weight, makes it very strong.
Philosophically, at this point I am, essentially, interested in one simple thing: excitement. It seems to me that contemporary art has, generally, become too focused on conceptual concerns producing a large amount of work that is very dull. To paraphrase the great composer Aaron Jay Kernis, I am for the most dynamic, powerful, exciting, moving, subtle, profound art possible, arrived at through any means necessary. The undiscovered country, the potential and challenge of creating something that has never been seen before, has always been my primary motivation.
Richard Claraval 12/1/10