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Charles Flickenger
Charles Flickinger (Flick), sculptor,
installation artist and teacher of
figurative sculpture ...
I am a sculptor, installation
artist and teacher living in Nelson County, Virginia. I teach at the
Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., Virginia Commonwealth
University & various workshops around the country. I have taught at
the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD as well as
Washington Studio School in Washington, D.C.
Since graduating from the Corcoran in 1986 I have
worked in many materials, but the human figure is a constant element
in both sculptures and installations. My earlier figures incorporate
torch welded steel, found objects and layers of other materials, such
as glass or hair. In more recent pieces carved wood serves as the
bones of the sculptures instead of steel.
Although I enjoy the craft of sculpture, I see the
materials and methods I use as secondary to the ideas my sculptures
express. I revel in the interplay between the inherent content of a
material and the more intentional elements (such as the gesture of a
figure) which I add. My pieces may suggest a narrative, sometimes a
mythical one, but these myths are reinterpreted as personal visions
rather than illustrations of particular myths.
The images come from a philosophical outlook that holds the physical
world as sacred. I care very much about this world, particularly the
natural environment that we are destroying. It is the one thing I
would give anything to change. As an artist, it can be difficult to
feel useful in this regard. Lately, though, it has occurred to me
that our culture's low regard for intact nature is a symptom of a
general lack of reverence for the beauty of existence.
The arts can be a path to fostering an appreciation of
our world. Aesthetic experience should be valued in this light. In
that sense, I think part of an artist's function (or a scientist's or
a parent's, etc.) is to explore and to love this world, and to help
others see the depth of the beauty in and around us. |
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Ana Anna Bronze:
33" |
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Luna Bronze:
37"
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