Patricia Volk

ARTIST STATEMENT

Patricia Volk RWA FRSS

My obsession is with catching a very simple form or line, then enhancing it with colour.

I put one element against the other in a way that is satisfying or dynamic. It’s purely visual and instinctive. If there is a deeper intellectual meaning, I like to think that is brought by the viewer: I don’t like to limit their experience by giving a sculpture a set explanation or description.

Sometimes I know what is going on in my head, but more often I let my hands do the “thinking”. That doesn’t mean it’s easy – far from it because I take a very long time to consider the exact colours and weigh them up. Some might watch my activity and indecision and quite honestly think it’s the total obsessiveness of a mad person.I like the thought that the pieces look light, and float – a contradiction to the obvious physical weight of clay.

If you pushed me to say, I am drawn to the combination of non-figurative form and colour to set off a series of juxtaposing ideas in the viewer’s mind – tranquility/ elegance, power/sadness, rest/conflict, a sense of movement… all these things triggering human emotions of some kind.