The expression ; sometimes less is more, matches with the piece I chose to highlight here. Finishing a piece of art to the nth degree is a work of patience and precision , I could say that it takes even more thought to leave a rough edge and have an onlooker believe the artist that he or she is finished with the piece. That there is no more that needs to be done to the , in this case, soapstone sculpture. I have always felt for the stone that I am working on and have other pieces that would have been changed significantly by more work on them. As examples; the TIFF Award, (Toronto International Film Festival) I did , which appealed to the organizers becuase of it’s abstractness and openness to interpretation – read art that didn’t scream one message over another.
The bear in the photo on this post is carved from Asian Soapstone. The bear is simply stated; coming out of the rock, is part of the rock and I don’t think may people would picture it any other way.
Carving’s most important skills might be; feeling the rock and knowing when to stop. Art comes to life with those simple rules and each piece then has a life of it’s own.
