No-Man’s-Land

First known use of this phrase was in the 14th century.

I struggled for a long time to come up with a title for this piece. When I felt the words “No man’s land”…they landed! Merriam-Webster describes it as: “An area of unclaimed, unowned or uninhabited land. Perfectly describing the area between a bronc and rider in a contest of wills. Webster continues in his description of this phrase, “An unoccupied area between opposing armies. An area not suitable or used for occupation or habitation.” As I’ve pondered the meaning of this title, I’ve remembered numerous feelings which have come to me over the decades of contemplating the desolation of war, especially the trench warfare of World War I, the possibility of death on the other side of the wire, uncertainty of outcome, heightened senses, every movement having to be sure with an intense focus of purpose….else all is lost. I could not come up with a better title for this piece.

Even though the subject matter is dear to my heart, it was hard for me to sculpt another ‘bucking horse.’ My mentor, Fritz White, once said, “If the world ever collapses, it will be because of badly sculpted bucking horses.” His words sounding LOUD in the back of my mind pushed me to explore the limits of my creativity. I focused mostly on the silhouette from a distance. I invite you to stand back and fully feel the silhouette. Stanley Bliefeld (another mentor) once said, “sculpture is silhouette.” Art in its purest form is simply shapes of mass – ‘without detail’. There’s a lot of that in this piece…ON PURPOSE!

My prayer is that folks view this work and transcend the physical (third dimensional) subject matter in clay, and go to a place within themselves and feel, going beyond what their thinking minds see. To loosely quote Kenneth Wapnick: “A great work of art will take a person beyond the physical realms and into the etheric realms of the heart. A work that does this can facilitate healing.”