Title
Creation Date
2018
Preview
Medium
aluminum, steel, and wood
Description
Dimensions: 18 x 15 x 8 inches
Rights
© Charles Lee Haman, 2018.
Keywords
abject, decay, bronze, aluminum, concrete, resin
2018
aluminum, steel, and wood
Dimensions: 18 x 15 x 8 inches
© Charles Lee Haman, 2018.
abject, decay, bronze, aluminum, concrete, resin
Artist Statement
I am consumed by the need to create new objects in this universe, and not just for the sake of making a thing, but rather to bring a brand new object into this world that was not here before. New and unfamiliar objects carry with them some weight, however: they cannot simply be just “things” – for me, there needs to be something more to it. This is where my obsessive love affair with surface, materials, and craftsmanship carry the work from being just “a thing” to being “a thing of interest”. I am fascinated by form and mass (both obvious and implied) and texture: I often find myself getting transfixed by the seductive power of surfaces and finishes.
Perhaps these objects that I feel the need to create aren’t in fact “new”: maybe they have always been here, hiding somewhere between the real and the imagined, and simply needed somebody to create a physical form so they can be led out of the ether. Maybe that’s just a bunch of chatter and I simply enjoy making stuff. Either way, an artist’s job is not to tell you what you can already see, but rather to offer alternative ways of discerning what you are looking at. To me, a visual artist’s job is to be a successful non-verbal communicator of inspiration; to speak loudly the quiet words of thought, emotion, and idea. I believe that the behavior of a thing – an object – can change through the very act of observing it.
My creative process is one of discovery and instinct without relying completely on conscious reasoning. Initially I might not have a clear idea where the work is going and I often don’t find out until I get there; the piece takes on a life of its own and reveals itself to me in the end. Am I creating the work, or is the work creating me? I revel in this constant internal and external battle which produces a somewhat comfortable discomfort that challenges my stability. When I pour myself into the work and am rewarded with an object of beauty that has its own voice, I feel that this repairs or restores a part of my soul. While creating a piece, I often have people ask me “what is this piece called?” to which I answer “I don’t know… it hasn’t told me yet.”