Bill Wohlford
Bill Wohlford -- Artist Statement
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Welcome to the world of “Creality! I work at the intersection of
creativity and reality and sometimes wholly in one or the other. I
am a sculptor who often uses two-dimensional media to
develop the presentation of a three-dimensional piece. Many
of my works are about people because humans have infinitely
more aspects about them than rocks or animals. I will
occasionally do rocks and animals when an idea presents itself.
I have not led a tortured life that yearns to be revealed in dark
abstraction. Instead, I have been very fortunate and that leaves
me free to express the world around me in positive and
sometimes humorous terms. I work with wood because I like it.
Each of my works is unique and one of a kind, partly because
each piece of wood is different and cannot be replicated but
mostly because I have no patience to reproduce a thought
and I am too anxious to find out how the next piece will turn out.
My work is self-explanatory. As an engineer in my earlier life,
my livelihood depended on the consistency and predictability
of nature, on the real world. That side of my brain still requires
that my art be readily associative with things that are
recognizable. The less pragmatic side of my mind is busily
muddling the vision to challenge a new interpretation of that
which appears to be familiar. While the right side is creating
works that are pleasing to the eye and worthy of the sacrifice of
a perfectly good piece of wood, the untethered side of my
brain is dwelling in “Creality”. That’s where composition and
shadow join the flow of the wood to create an image that is not
quite whole leaving the mind to finish the piece as it would a
novel.
The outdoors, the woods, mountains and streams are my natural
habitat. These will, occasionally inspire an idea that causes a
complete divergence into a more real world. Side-by-side, the
sculptures that result appear to be the work of two different
artists, maybe more. Yes, I am inconsistent as well as impatient.
Welcome to the world of “Creality! I work at the intersection of
creativity and reality and sometimes wholly in one or the other. I
am a sculptor who often uses two-dimensional media to
develop the presentation of a three-dimensional piece. Many
of my works are about people because humans have infinitely
more aspects about them than rocks or animals. I will
occasionally do rocks and animals when an idea presents itself.
I have not led a tortured life that yearns to be revealed in dark
abstraction. Instead, I have been very fortunate and that leaves
me free to express the world around me in positive and
sometimes humorous terms. I work with wood because I like it.
Each of my works is unique and one of a kind, partly because
each piece of wood is different and cannot be replicated but
mostly because I have no patience to reproduce a thought
and I am too anxious to find out how the next piece will turn out.
My work is self-explanatory. As an engineer in my earlier life,
my livelihood depended on the consistency and predictability
of nature, on the real world. That side of my brain still requires
that my art be readily associative with things that are
recognizable. The less pragmatic side of my mind is busily
muddling the vision to challenge a new interpretation of that
which appears to be familiar. While the right side is creating
works that are pleasing to the eye and worthy of the sacrifice of
a perfectly good piece of wood, the untethered side of my
brain is dwelling in “Creality”. That’s where composition and
shadow join the flow of the wood to create an image that is not
quite whole leaving the mind to finish the piece as it would a
novel.
The outdoors, the woods, mountains and streams are my natural
habitat. These will, occasionally inspire an idea that causes a
complete divergence into a more real world. Side-by-side, the
sculptures that result appear to be the work of two different
artists, maybe more. Yes, I am inconsistent as well as impatient.
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