stephen@stephenklema.com
Artist Statement
- Fundamentally, I make objects. Whimsical — metaphorical — representational — and abstract objects. Sculpture fabricated using abutting, overlapping and interlocking stained and painted elements intricately assembled to yield a coherent an evocative work.
No matter the form these objects take, a connective thread to them all is that of craft — the labor of making. Planning, observation, play, serendipity, and the reciprocal relationship between technical barriers and their solutions all play a role in the making.
I have been working on pieces in three primary design explorations — the saw blade designs of the “Woods Revenge” and “Hobbes’ Claw” series (outdoor), the house designs in the “Rybee House” series (outdoor), and the “Pandora’s Box” series — for indoor exhibitions.
The “Pandora’s Box” series explores the processes of accretion and loss — one desire to contain against the other desire to expand. The polarization of forces echoing the constant push and pull from order to chaos and back again. The juxtaposition of escape and confinement, expansion and compression — and the resultant fragile edifice of visual interdependent form on form.
The saw blade designs of the “Woods Revenge” and the “Hobbes’ Claw” series investigate the confluence of mechanical processes, organic forms and natural materials, and reflect the dichotomy of destruction and creation. Some blades are interpreted using intertwining and interlocking shapes of tree branches and roots, while others incorporate repeating geometric shapes to mimic the repetitive motions of saw blade rotation and mechanical movement.
The roofed sculptural bench designs of the “Rybee House” series incorporate a sense of whimsy and fantasy, using stylized, archetypal forms of shelter and nature. Roofs provide a sense of home, benches with raised relief leaf provide a resting place in nature, while the houses and doorways on a face or corner of a structure represent transition and change — paths of entry and emergence.