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Cervidae by Wendy Klemperer steel, epoxy 2 Elks (Irish Deer): 10' x 12' x 6' |
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Location:
McIntire Road/Shencks Branch Park
Value: Walking Elk: $12,000
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Artist
Statement While making these sculptures of some of the largest in the family of deer (elk, red deer) I was interested in conveying the feeling of ponderous mass combined with elegance and agility. In shaping the antlers I become involved in making abstract, drawn shapes in addition to depicting a recognizable form. The size of these sculptures seems almost prehistoric, recalling an era when elk may have wandered across all of North America, and herds of immense Irish Deer, now extinct, populated a wilder Europe. For years I have concentrated
on large outdoor sculpture in a wide variety of locations: sculpture
parks and gardens, city streets, on the banks of (and even in) rivers,
placing natural imagery in many different settings. A lifelong study
of animals informs my sculptural process; this naturalism is not
the sole objective of my work, but a means to convey an expressive
moment. The materials I use retain a raw, rough-edged quality, presenting
the image with tactile directness. To make the sculptures I search
scrap yards and construction sites for steel that has been discarded
and ravaged by life in the yard. Bent and twisted, such pieces contain
energy and a potential new life. The sculptures are ultimately not
just about animals, but use the body language of animals to express
a feeling or state of being. The driving force of the work is the
dynamic line running throughout, conveying raw energy within a sinuous
form to evoke a visceral response in the viewer. Wendy Klemperer |
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