When looking up pottery artists, Christopher David White’s work leaped off the page at me. With very realistic human features and crazy detailing, his work is very eye-catching as well as thought provoking. At first glance, one would not place his work in the pottery category. But in reality White’s expertise is actually hyper realistic clay sculptures! After having some experience working with clay in our ceramics class, seeing his work is mind boggling. It’s fascinating to see how much one can accomplish with clay as I found it to be a harder art medium. When I began to research him further, I really related to his message and mission. White is 40 years old and from Richmond, Virginia. He specializes in wood like clay sculptures as well as rusted metals and other deteriorating elements. His work explores the relationship between humanity and nature and how both are in a constant state of flux between growth and decay. He is very connected with the idea of human and natural life and goes into great detail on his site about nature, the cosmos, and beings. White’s work encapsulates those relationships. His work is very environmentally charged and was even awarded with the ‘Most Environmentally Conscious’ at INLight 2014 hosted by 1708 Gallery. As stated, he is super inspired by nature, humanity and its interactions with the environment. His work's meaning is quite amazing and the way he brings it all together visually is even better. He has such an eye for fine details and making them mind boggling realistic. As stated by White himself that “With clay as [his] medium of choice [he] meticulously render by hand natural elements within our lives, taking advantage of clay’s innate ability to mimic a wide variety of materials. [He] utilizes trompe l’oeil as a stylistic choice to enforce the concept of illusion. But, the true illusion is the world in which humanity has created. It is an existence that seeks to separate itself from nature.” When White starts a sculpture he starts shaping his clay with knots and branches and imprinting large grooves for the grit and grain required for his piece. He then stated that once the work dries slightly he begins going into finer details using items like dental instruments, wire brushes, and Xacto knives. Then he used the slightly dehydrated material to create those natural cracks and divots that enhance the woody texture. Once fired, he then paints each sculpture with neutral palettes of acrylics. The combination of skewing of scale, proportion, and material, really brings his piece together allowing onlookers to look deeper into his artwork. I really love that his work is so attention grabbing and how the deep colors and cracks of the “wood” are such a focal point. Once you absorb visually what's going on in the piece you then begin to feel connected with it and understand its true meaning. It's quite apparent that He creates his work with the intention to ask his viewers questions like how do we interact with and perceive the world around us, and what effects we may have on the environment. As someone who has a large background on environmental science it makes sense why I was so drawn to these pieces right off the bat. I’m glad I came across his work and its super inspiring to see someone else that is active in environmental art. References: https://artaxis.org/artist/christopher-david-white/ https://www.instagram.com/cwhite.ceramics/?hl=en https://www.christopherdavidwhite.com/index.php/en/
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