This artist is really one of the most innovative sculptors I have ever seen. I have never come across any artist that has impressed me so much with both skill and innovation. He is not like the Renaissance sculptors, he is also not like the Contemporary conceptual artists.
He is a true innovator if his own, coming up with the most interesting and original form of idea by using the most peculiar medium ever - graphite. To put it specifically, he works with the graphite (carbon) that is found in pencils. Everyday pencils, that one sees and uses in their day-to-day activities. Be it HB, 2B or 6B pencils, he works with them, in all shapes and sizes!
From the pictures above, you can clearly see how much skill and accuracy is required to carve out these exquisite and minuscule sculptures from piece of lead in a pencil. Taking out a ruler to measure the diameter of lead, its less than 1.0cm, and how little is that amount of working area and artist has?! Its almost a microscopic form of work already.
Not only does this necessitate patience and adeptness, this is also a newfangled form of art! In my opinion, this marks the beginning and sets the standards of a new type of sculptural work.
After some research on Dalton J. Paul Getty, he has stated that he has spent a lot of time and effort to carve out his forms and figures from the lead by using specialised tools (knives), a magnifying glass of some sort and a great deal of patience. In fact, he has stated that he has over 200 broken lead pencils in his art studio after many futile failure attempts of carving. The alphabet collection (A-Z) that he carved out on pencil lead took him a total of 5 years to sculpt. This speaks volumes about his patience and passion. I think that not many artists would spend so much time and strenuous physical and mental exertion on a single series of work. He is really passionate about his work and I salute him for this and this is why I chose him as one of the inspirations to me personally.
His miniature sculptures vary in subject matter. They include a shoe (which was so realistic), some machinery industry tools like the saw and even chains (which I thought was definitely challenging to carve on his part). The nature of the graphite, like the colour and surface texture of the lead reminds me of the texture of the black bronze that past sculptors like Auguste Rodin used when he created the Thinker from the Divine Comedy. That smooth finish of the graphite and the dark black grayish hue of the graphite is reminiscent to the bronze used in The Thinker. It is also almost abit like the material in Tosca, primarily used by Southeast Asian sculpters like Dede Supria.
Dalton J. Paul Getty is unquestionably an inspiration for me. I hope to possess the patience and skill he endows.
And the coursework shall be the platform. Hopefully.
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