Bill Barrett
Bill Barrett über seine Arbeit:
Norway’s greatest composer, Edvard Grieg, whose music has been an influence in my life said, ”One must first be a human being. All true art grows out of that which is distinctively human.” My
sculptures are vehicles through which my humanity communicates with the viewers.
In my artwork, I am always striving to incorporate beauty of perfection and emotion, using uplifting forms towards harmony and assertiveness and how they relate to each other. In each new work of
art, I am in pursuit of a certain life-spark that I might not have achieved in a previous sculpture or painting.
Plato and Aristotle believed that there was beauty in man and that he could achieve happiness in art. I believe that the quality of life can be elevated by the sense of beauty in art.
Beauty can be reached by using proportion and the rationalization of relationships of form. Volume and mass when arranged with formal relationships can achieve these ends (beauty). Positive and
negative space adds to the interpretation. Too much of one or the other adds to the expression of emotion; heavy or light, sharp, round, straight, rippled angles, light and dark, forward and
backward, symmetrical versus asymmetrical, loud versus quiet, sharp versus round, chaos versus calm, balance versus unbalanced. These combined with content, idea and meaning are not decoration, but
beauty.
In establishing a rapport between the artist and viewer, the artist appeals to man’s inner self, his ideas and his expressiveness. Trying to capture the essence of a work of art depends on the mood
of the viewer. Sculptures in the round should be beautiful from all angles, challenging in asymmetrical balance. The viewer has to be open to the creator of the artwork, and suppress prejudices when
evaluating a work of art in order to understand the artist’s intentions. Being esthetically pleasing does not make a work good art. Merely being beautiful or creative doesn’t make art great.
Creative change is always important for me, from one shape to the next. Surprise is important. Taking a chance while searching for truth is a condition that I strive for when starting a new work of
art. It is the beginning of the journey and my obligation. You take a chance and you never know where the journey will take you.
Art can be a life giving force enriching one’s senses and refreshing one’s visions. A right brain-left brain tension exists between order, regularity and refinement on one hand and intoxication,
turmoil and euphoria on the other. Nietzsche, in “The Birth of Tragedy” (1872), traces the origins of this distinction. The Apollonian represents the intellect, the rational and scientific. The
Dionysian represents the mystic: artistic conception, originating from humankind’s subconscious. Nietzsche believes both elements are present in any work of art with one or the other usually
dominant. In periods of acute stress and social tension, as in our own times, the two tend to erupt in conflict.
Important sculptures are sculptures that the public can live with, grow with and keep going back to physically, mentally and emotionally.
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