Artstolife’s Weblog

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping hard or plastic material, commonly stone (either rock or marble), metal, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by carving; others are assembled, built up and fired, welded, molded, or cast. A person who creates sculptures is called a sculptor.

Because sculpture involves the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated, it is considered one of the plastic arts. The majority of public art is sculpture. Many sculptures together in a garden setting may be referred to as a sculpture garden.

Some common forms of sculpture are:

• Free-standing sculpture, sculpture that is surrounded on all sides, except the base, by space. It is also known as sculpture “in the round,” and is meant to be viewed from any angle.
• Jewelery
• Relief – the sculpture is still attached to a background; types are bas-relief, alto-relievo, and sunken-relief
• Site-specific art
• Kinetic sculpture – involves aspects of physical motion
  • Fountain – the sculpture is designed with moving water
  • Mobile (see also Calder’s Stabiles.)
• Statue – representationalist sculpture depicting a specific entity, usually a person, event, animal or object
  • Bust – representation of a person from the chest up
  • Equestrian sculpture – typically showing a significant person on horseback
• Stacked art – a form of sculpture formed by assembling objects and ’stacking’ them

Sculptors have generally sought to produce works of art that are as permanent as possible, working in durable and frequently expensive materials such as bronze and stone: marble, limestone, porphyry, and granite. More rarely, precious materials such as gold, silver, jade, and ivory were used for chryselephantine works. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including hardwoods (such as oak, box/boxwood, and lime/linden); terra cotta and other ceramics, and cast metals such as pewter and zinc (spelter).

Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. Jim Gary used stained glass and automobile parts, tools, machine parts, and hardware. One of Pablo Picasso’s most famous sculptures included bicycle parts. Alexander Calder and other modernists made spectacular use of painted steel. Since the 1960s, acrylics and other plastics have been used as well. Andy Goldsworthy makes his unusually ephemeral sculptures from almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. Some sculpture, such as ice sculpture, sand sculpture, and gas sculpture, is deliberately short-lived.

Sculptors often build small preliminary works called maquettes of ephemeral materials such as plaster of Paris, wax, clay, or plasticine, as Alfred Gilbert did for ‘Eros’ at Piccadilly Circus, London. In Retroarchaeology, these materials are generally the end product.

Source by http://en.wikipedia.org