absolution via thom puckey.

thom puckey....

EXTREME BEAUTY

"The possibility of a sculptural language comparable to words in literature or flickering images in film: i.e. not locked in material or trapped in an obsession with material. What is material? A necessary evil, which at best can deny itself. Self denial through achieving a state of beauty, an absolute state."

work in progress...2010

The Vesalius Sculpture, Terneuzen 2007

Scheldeboulevard, Terneuzen, Zeeuws Vlaanderen.
Bronze.
Height 4,80 meter, width 5 meter, length 4,50 meter.
Commissioned by the City of Terneuzen, with financial assistance from the Foundation Art and Public Space and the province of Zeeuws Vlaanderen.
Photos: Peter Cox

The Wife of the Alchemist (Madame Flamel) 2008

Statuaria marble, gold leaf, platinum leaf, pinewood.
Life size
Photos: Peter Cox
Wall painting: Jan van der Ploeg

Puckey explains....
"My present project can be summed up in this way: marble figures, life size, female, nude, formally posed, and with attributes in the form of weapons (modern firearms and knives of varying types and sizes). My techniques are anachronistic, following closely those of the late 18th / early 19th century. The sculpture is modelled in clay; it is cast in plaster; the plaster is copied over into marble. The basic formality of the sculptures is that of the period just following neo-classicism. Anti-baroque, a strong feeling of formal stability, very 'posed' and composed, with nothing portrayed within the composition which could not in some way or another happen in real life. In this last sense I can accept the epithet 'realism'. The formal and stylistic qualities of sculptors like Canova, Bartolini, Houdon, Dupré etc. have had their influence on my work. I admire in particular the manner of translating flesh into marble in the work of these sculptors, something which later lost its way amongst the academicism of the late 19th century, and deserves to be restored. The softness and semi-transparency of good marble has a way of almost becoming flesh, in a way as much beautiful as it is obscene. It is also an ideal material for achieving exquisite contrasts between hard and soft, a quality I use more and more both in the figures and in the attributes round them. Many, though not all of the poses in my work are borrowed and adapted from sculpture and painting sources; a good example being 'A.V. with RPG-7 and Knife' which was adapted from Ingres' painting, 'Oedipus and the Sphinx'..." (read more)