ART Habens Art Review ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue #97 | Page 173

Maksim Kuznetcov
ART Habens
I enjoy working with clay. It is one of the few
materials that allows me to work freely and
does not usually distract from the process of
sculpting. There are known limitations of clay
and for complex pieces that cannot be
moulded as a single piece, I use plastellin. At
times, when I want to achieve effects of
statue-like solidity of the forms, I can have
choosen plaster and carved the model.
Since I paint nearly every sculpture, which
changes the surface texture and colour
balance a lot, I am not particularly concerned
with fine texture of the finished piece, after
casting, unless it is metal, of course.
Well, I am ambivalent about the statement by
Thomas Demand. I agree with it in the sense
that art should develop more into the
psychological area, although I do not see that
these two approaches, i.e. symbolic and
psychological, are mutually exclusive. We
have been learning how to perceive reality
since our early childhood, via objects,
symbols and abstract ideas – these are all
symbols. The power the symbol can be
characterised by the degree the symbol
evokes a profound and rich psychological
effect. I think the key here is to use symbols,
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