Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer ("plastic") materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals. The term has been extended to works including sound, text and light.

Materials may be worked by removal such as carving; or they may be assembled such as by welding, hardened such as by firing, or molded or cast. Surface decoration such as paint may be applied. Sculpture has been described as one of the plastic arts because it can involve the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated. Found objects may be presented as sculptures.

Sculpture is an important form of public art. A collection of sculpture in a garden setting may be referred to as a sculpture garden.

Types of Sculpture:

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.
• Sound sculpture
• Light sculpture
• Jewellery or Jewelry
• Relief – the sculpture is 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 statue – typically showing a significant person on horseback
• Stacked art – a form of sculpture formed by assembling objects and 'stacking' them
• Architectural sculpture
• Environmental art
• Environmental sculpture
• Land art

Materials of Sculpture through the History

The materials used in sculpture are diverse, changing throughout history. 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 glass, hardwoods (such as oak, box/boxwood, and lime/linden); terracotta and other ceramics, and cast metals such as pewter and zinc (spelter).

Sculptures are often painted, but commonly lose their paint to time, or restorers. Many different painting techniques have been used in making sculpture, including tempera, [oil painting], gilding, house paint, aerosol, enamel and sandblasting.

Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. One of Pablo Picasso's most famous sculptures included bicycle parts. Alexander Calder and other modernists made spectacular use of paintedsteel. 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. A vast array of sculptors including Joan Miró, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Klein, John Chamberlain, Jean Tinguely, Richard Stankiewicz, Larry Bell, Carl Andre, Louise Bourgeois, Jim Gary and others used glass, stained glass, automobile parts, tools, machine parts, and hardware to fashion their works.

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. InRetroarchaeology, these materials are generally the end product.

Sculptors sometimes use found objects.




Source:
"Sculpture." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture>.