cultural relevance?

["George Graham" <georgergraham@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Norman,
as usual, I take a long time to drag up thoughts on deep questions such as
yours.
I can't come to a meaningful answer to the statement, cultural relevance.
The problem is  , what culture are we talking about, the USA's, european,
aboriginal, 50 , 100 or 1000 years ago? My point is culture changes . If an
artist is trying to communicate with the viewer using symbol's relevant to
the present, than sooner or later the work becomes irrelevant. We can
appreciate the skill and craftsmanship of the artists, but understanding the
meaning of a piece gets harder as time goes by.

Your question leads  me to the question I've asked myself over the years,
why do I work in stone . There are much easier mediums to work in, but I
can't leave the stone carving. The next logical thought is, why do some
people who don't know anything about stone carving, love it just as much as
me?  Once a year I do an outdoor arts and craft show in Rochester NY. Its
fascinating to watch the people go by. Most just glance and move on, but it
seem that one in a hundred, stop in their tracks, causing backups , and then
go into my tent and get to know all the pieces. They touch , fondle, and
generally go nuts over seeing real stone carving. I've come to the
conclusion that stone carving , in particular, connects to some of us in a
deep , primitive subconcousious level. It touches a chord, in the same way
that some songs make us cry and we don't know why.

Sculpture's place in humanity is very ancient. Before there was a written
language, and most people communicated with words and gestures, carvings
were used to help tell a story or lesson, to get inside someone's mind.
Sculpture is one of many art forms that augments words in reaching out to
another person. The spoken word is the most powerful and immediate art.
Words with music seem to me to cut straight to the soul, followed by
sculpture and painting. When I'm doing my best work, its a symbol of some
kind, and I can feel something more then my personal desires guiding my
creative juices!! Doing work on this level is immensely satisfying to me ,
and the piece is like a magnet to those who are sensitive to art. Sculpting
stone , seems to me , taps into this level of emotion and passion because
the carver is forced by the very nature of the material to operate on an
instinctive level, and trust the creative process to lead us out of the
confusion of tools, chisels, dust and chips, to a finished piece.

Is every piece a master piece? No!, But the joy 1 or 2 really special pieces
a year keeps my coming back to stone carving. Its kind of like playing in a
band with 100 other people, and everyone get perfectly together for one
piece, and we all stop and look at each other, and realize something special
just happened. So I'm not really concerned with cultural relevance. I'm
aiming for personal spiritual  contact with my art work and people who just
happened to walk by, and are stopped in their tracks.

Thanks for the chance to rummage around the attic for awhile, and share my
thoughts.
George Graham