SCULPT'ARTists...

[French Cancan]

Bienvenue @ tous!

I start this thread to talk about statuary art in general, considering there is a life in this art out of the manga/comics worlds.
It doesn't mean we can't speak about these worlds though!
Feel free to share here your favorites artists / artistic movements as long as we are talking about sculpture!

[French Cancan]

REAL? HYPERREAL?



Companies named JND, Queen Studios, Infinity Studio or Cinemaquette aren't really pioneers in the microcosm of hyperrealistic statues, but at least we can consider them as pioneers in the industrialization and popularization of this art, or more precisely in this artistic movement.

Let me introduce JOAN to you:



... And her progenitor:



John De ANDREA

In the early 1960s, direct-action moulding was a technique that was both forgotten and unexplored. John De Andrea in search of the greatest possible realism develops a silicone molding method that allows him to capture details more precisely. It starts with fibreglass positives, then polyvinyl resin and finally bronze. De Andrea initially uses automotive paint, to switch to acrylic and finally oil paint.

Indeed, if each work requires about a thousand hours of realization, it is because at the first work of moulding and sculpture is added a meticulous work to the oil painting, superimposing hundreds of layers until creating the illusion of life and flesh.

And to accentuate this paradigm, De Andrea endeavours to reproduce the most classical poses and themes of the History of Art, multiplying references to Antiquity (from the Galatian dying to Pygmalion to the Greek sculpture of the 5th century), to the Renaissance (the Venus of Titian or Velasquez) and until the French painting of the 19th century (from Manet to Courbet and up to Cabanel)

For physical and technical reasons, the production of John De Andrea is very low. His entire work is estimated at about 350 sculptures, most of which are already in museums and private collections.



Polychromed bronze with mixed media




Couple 1978

[French Cancan]

CHILDREN IN THE WOODS...



GEHARD DEMETZ
was formally trained in the tradition of religious sculpture in his hometown in the Dolomites - a centuries-old craft in the region. He eventually started making his own sculptures in his spare time informed by the iconography of his trade. His sculptures use children as the main subject to investigate contemporary culture and its destructive tendency through the larger forces of war, religion, and politics. One of the most startling technical features is the construction using small woodblocks and juxtaposing finely polished parts to very rough and sketchy surfaces.
Demetz explains his choice to use children as subjects: My sculptures transmit the awareness of becoming adults and thus losing, as Rudolf Steiner says, their ability to be able to "hear" their unconscious. They live with the burden of guilt transmitted from generation to generation, which does not belong to them. They are children who feel sad about not being able to really be children, but who have, on the other hand, the possibility of choosing to become adults, totally independently, thus freeing themselves little by little of all the influences transmitted by their ancestors. They are witness to all the effort involved in the process of growth and development, which is achieved through individual will and concentration.










and the back of a statue...

[chronos1919]

[French Cancan]

That's the Deluxe version.

[Thor57]

Might want to throw a not safe for work tag on the title.

[Blade3327]

The hyper-realistic stuff is technically impressive (same goes for hyper-real digital models), but I do like a bit of stylization or idealization in my human characters. An artist's unique interpretation tells a more interesting story than the recreation of something you can already see in real life IMO.

[grphyx1]

Thank you for always bringing something fresh Frenchie

[French Cancan]

Originally Posted by Blade3327

The hyper-realistic stuff is technically impressive (same goes for hyper-real digital models), but I do like a bit of stylization or idealization in my human characters. An artist's unique interpretation tells a more interesting story than the recreation of something you can already see in real life IMO.

I am in the same boat. Same goes for hyperrealistic paintings. I am wowed by the technic, but artistically and emotionally speaking, it's a bit of a void. Or I'll need an emotional connection. For example, if JND ever proposes a statue of Marilyn or Princess Leia, my wallet will be in trouble. I was a student when I first saw Leia on a screen, and of course I fell in love...

[French Cancan]

Originally Posted by grphyx1

Thank you for always bringing something fresh Frenchie

Thank you, dear grphyx Hopefully you'll appreciate the next guest.