Statement
ARTIST STATEMENT
RAUL R. RUBIERA
I am an artist. I make art for myself, to satisfy a need for expression. Photography has been my main means of expressing my creativity for more than 40 years. Photography has allowed me to be published, exhibited, and win awards, but throughout, sculpture has been a secret love. It started in 1970 when I took a sculpture class at ECU. Looking at the works by Henry Moore, Marcel Duchamp, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johnson, Louise Nevelson, especially Isamu Noguchi and others inspired me to make three dimensional art. Even today they inspire me as I make my sculptures. As I worked on my art in school, professor Norman Keller taught me to look in unexpected places and to scavenge for materials everywhere.
I made sculptures sparely through the years. Since I retired as a photographer, I have begun making sculptures again. My work can be divided into two categories: additive or assembled pieces and subtractive or carved works.
Lately, I have been working on additive sculptures using found objects; both organic and inorganic materials. I started small scale, making table top size pieces, but my goal is to make larger-scale work. The new work has been accepted in several group shows.
I have been thinking about doing some carved sculptures again. In the past, I have worked in stone, plaster and clay, but, I was recently introduced to Virtual Reality and 3D printing. I tried my hand at carving digitally, and, to my surprise was able to produce one in my first try. Then, I had my creation printed with a 3D printer. To be truthful the work was not perfect, I need to learn more about the correct way to print. But I found that this is a good medium for me to discover and produce new exiting work.
My work is abstract in nature and non-representative. My ideas come both from my mind and from nature. They start with images in my head that get transformed and refined by the actual process of creation. With my sculpture I take advantage of the three dimensional aspect of the work making sure that there is a different look to the piece from every direction. I like to introduce texture into the work and allow time to create its own patina. Nature is a wonderful creator and I find it is not only a source of inspiration but a source of materials too.
