On His Words

rllandry — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:17:27 +0000

There was once a time when I made every effort to become the artist of my time. I created clever depictions of the ideas in my head through schemes and strategies that I believed would set me above and apart from the norm in the effort to capture the attention of others. I strove to be unique for the sake of being clever, while I sought to be clever for the sake of being noticed. Then one day I looked at my work and felt a void, a lack of profound human substance! So, I turned and looked inwards in the effort to explore what was truly in my heart by grappling with the root source of my being. In my search I discovered that “I” like the rest of humanity I was bound to our duality and the law of opposite polarities, that both north and south, inside and out and up and down etc. are by example -the springboard and back drop to one another –forever binding them as an interdependent one. I find it impossible to recognize one direction without acknowledging the other; therefore providing proof that there is no pleasure without pain and we are all by nature, both evil and divine, lechers and lovers, just as one person’s sinner is another’s saint. Back then, I relied entirely on my emotionally charged thought facility to navigate my way through life, but soon discovered that trusting neither my thoughts nor my feelings would provide proper guidance. In time I learned to intuit -to navigate my way through life using both my heart “and” my head, -rooted to the rhythm of life giving forces and before long I began to feel grounded, touching on the fabric of my true nature. Through discovering these truths I have found my footing, an honest foundation from which to develop, nurture and ultimately realize the pursuit of my own true authentic path. To further develop this authenticity, I put one ear to my surroundings and the other to my own personal character to truly listen. Now everyday I discover more about my interconnected transcendent place in the world and through these discoveries I have learned that, although it is okay to disagree, it is in our best interest to temper our convictions by remaining open and fluid -thus, calm, tolerant, nurturing and forgiving. This is the driving force behind my authentic journey and this is the premise from which I create.

Expressions through Timeless Characteristics -My literal approach

The aesthetic pursued by this body of work reflects strongly on humanist ideologies. In this regard, it involves a thorough understanding and investigation of visual language inspired by all the necessary visually observed phenomena as provided by nature. This attitude stems from my fascination with the academic institution of greater understanding and my strong interest in mankind’s unique ability to contemplate.

For myself, the flavor of life is found through mindful and soulful awareness, synthesized through our humanity. I long to reveal the deep emotional implications that we all must endure: An obvious common lineage that binds the hearts and the souls of each of us.

As for the viewer, I wish to provide an opportunity for everyone to identify with the deeper and more profound depths of our emotional facility, to remind us that we must put each and every interpersonal thought and emotion into rational perspective. It is musculature and the biomechanics of human anatomy that reveal the true state of our human consciousness. I find it fascinating how they react to one’s awareness or thoughts and feelings, whether subtle or profound! Here I am provided with the necessary playground I desire for modeling heavy volumes.

Contrast and exaggeration provide the necessary romantic implications that define all but the very sum of my aesthetic. They surface in extreme values of lights and darks, from simple to complex areas of oppositional and transitional shapes, forms, and marks, and when the medium permits it, warm and cool colors. In regard to color! I find it liberating, pushing them almost arbitrarily for their expressive qualities through again, exaggeration. As for marks! I insist upon celebrating them openly for their ability to reveal the artist’s immediate state of being. Ultimately I strive for the point where the physical, the mental, and the emotional converge to project the life of the spirit through the beauty of human anatomy. Of course, I find extreme physical activity of obvious expression enthralling. Long-drawn stares of deep thought lead to subtle yet profound expressions that generate their versions of mood and temperament. Even the state of rest sets a stage for the wonder of dream activity.

Expressions of Universal Truths -Less Literal

In my opinion -concerning aesthetics, everything stems from classicism. Much of this direction has emerged directly from my classicist background. The exaggerated and romanticized forms of musculature that define the motif of my extensively modeled figures continue to motivate me aesthetically. However, they have gained a greater precedence in this forum as they have become isolated and celebrated individually for their elegance and grace of form, then reintroduced to express our transcendent human qualities through their reinterpretation of human anatomy. This reinterpretation involves further influences, as provided by nature. Centripetal force and inertia principles play on many of these forms with relation to anatomical movement. They seem elegantly carved by the atmosphere, as they appear to be moving through space.

Robert L. Landry

On His Words