Under Azure Skies

You are all no doubt acquainted with the legendary figure Pygmalion. Pygmalion was the King of Cyprus, and the first sculptor in history. He fell in love with a statue he himself had made. At his request, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, brings the statue to life. The artist as a life-bestowing creator is at the very origin of sculpture. And each sculpture exhibited in “Under Azure Skies” is a new and unique creation “brought to life” by the artist and the viewer’s power of contemplation.

This underscores the ideal value of each work as an original: the very term “original” refers us back to the origin – the initial godly, transcendental genesis. Modern sculpture does not aim to duplicate nature. Each work aspires to be a creation in its own right, faithful to its own inner laws. I like to compare each new creation with a new living being. Like any living being, a work of art is always unique and special – an “original.” So it is hardly surprising that, despite all our modern-day technology and industrialization, all the sculptors whose works are exhibited here firmly believe in the power and significance of handcrafted works; they insist on expressing their ideas concretely, placing a priority on visual and tactile experience. Where past epochs were still guided by isms, today, freedom of content and materials, and freedom of thoughts, is virtually without bounds.

What is impressive and liberating about this exhibition is that artists of the most diverse backgrounds and origins have rendezvoused here to show that art is a common language understood all over the world. It is particularly exciting to see how global ideas and artistic processes have become today. And yet, something new and unknown still always emerges locally – even outside the major art centers. That is true in the United States as well as in smaller-scale Europe.

Ray Oppenheim
At the Exhibition Opening
St. Urban Art Pavilion
Lucerne, Switzerland
September 5, 2010