Bill Catling

Background

About Bill Catling

Life is affirmed in using earthen materials, ancient references are explored, intuitive connections formed through suffering, transcendence sought in the spiritual. The work is about the continued discovery of the true human condition residing deep within us. The work is designed to be symbolic of an internal journey, quietly impacting the space around it or the viewer who comes close. The figures have a rough, textured surface, while branches and wings stand in for arms, signifiers of power in their absence. The images are created to emit an archaic sensibility, a strong connection of the past to the present. The figures are inspired by the challenge of life experiences, sufferings and recurring themes from the search for wholeness. In my work I attempt to address the loss of our natural sense of being human, that is our deeply intuitive sense of ourselves. We have become disconnected from the natural rhythms of life and the deep truths of our spirituality. The condition of the figures lend themselves to the viewer’s engaging in the process of “reconnection” by joining in the transcendent element of the work. The figures lead us into the possibility of the invisible world and our spiritual uplift within various stages of contemplation. It is my desire that my work projects an ancient, archaic oneness of humanity's need for the internal search for direction and meaning. I want the work to challenge the viewer to re-examine their relationship to the spiritual and to the need for an internal life. The art is an attempt to raise the viewer's consciousness above the distracted, destructive and unaware content of much of contemporary life, to an upward and inward journey of spiritual transcendent experience, through the archaic, elementary order of the human figure. Artist Statement July 2011 Specialties: Contemporary sculpture, home-grown philosopher, avid restorer, professor of art, visionary