“Age of Anxiety”
Work in progress: ceramic figure
8’ x 3’ x 3’ when complete
2026
The idea for this sculpture comes from a number of streams. The first is the plan to do 12 figures that are struggling to sleep. They would be arranged in a circle. In the middle is a figure who is waking up but still stretching and in a partial dream state. That is what this figure will be.
I am also inspired by the full forms and energetic twisting of Michelangelo’s “slave” figures as well as the physicality and surface play of Robin’s mature work.
I am building this figure at a studio in northern Thailand at the Pichan Ceramic Factory. They have a ready supply of clay and a kiln large enough to fire such a figure.
The first step was to build a cart with wheels sturdy enough to support a 300lb sculpture. The next step was to be sure my “study” was exactly as I want it. Even though it is clay and as such very malleable, due to its size the sculpture must be hollow with walls no thicker than 1 inch. This allows for very little change as one builds the sculpture from the ground up. It is an incredibly rigorous intellectual exercise and a bit of an engineering challenge to have it come together well and without it collapsing under its own weight.
At the time of this writing, the piece is now up to its shoulders. And it does not appear to be at risk of collapsing, so far. So, the engineering aspects of this piece seem to be well handled. What remains is to see if it turns out to be a worthwhile piece of art.
There are a couple of engaging concerns that are constantly at play as the piece grows. I want the figure to be somewhere between the reality of the figure that we see, and the completely imagined figure. There is so much room in that space, so the question at play is how far toward either side of that arbitrary set of polarities do I want to be? This whole polemic also seems to highlight the way our shape changes as the muscles and bones are constantly moving under the skin.
As the piece grows from the bottom up there is an incremental decreasing ability to modify the larger forms since the clay is gradually drying and becoming set. Before that point I am able to move whole limbs a bit to get the anatomy correct as well as to express the emotion that I want. For example, at some early stage I was able to tip the foot and ankle forward onto the ball of the foot and slightly to the area under the big toe. This is what one does when your weight shifts down and to the opposite side of that foot. By doing so I can express a rising up or a flexing for action. I did not need to recreate the whole foot. I was able to gently bend it and move the heel up and slightly out driving the angle of motion to the ball of the foot under the big toe. I could then remove clay from under the small toes. Easy. But as the piece grows taller over time, that kind of easy adjustment is not possible.
For example, today I finally realized why something appeared weak and not “right” about the figure’s right thigh. It was that the knee was about an inch and a half too far to his right making his thigh look twisted. If the clay were soft enough I could have simply gently pushed and pulled the knee over a bit. But it is way too late for that. I had to recreate the entire knee just an inch or so to the left and then bring everything together from the calf up and the thigh down. Fortunately, after completing this work, the leg appeared strong and “right” both artistically and anatomically.
Getting fresh moist clay to adhere to clay that is largely dry is its own challenge. I had to prick the dry clay hundreds of times with a sharp point and insert a coconut fiber into each hole. Then spritz heavily with water before smearing on the fresh clay. Without these procedures the old clay will suck the moisture out of the new clay too quickly causing it to shrink and delaminate from the old clay. In this case, it would mean that his new knee would fall off.
Another issue I am constantly thinking about is tightening the profiles, or not. One way to bring the figure into a more realistic shape is to constantly look at different profiles and keep tightening them. This is done by either turning the piece or moving around it. But it is also important to get above the piece and look down as well as get on the floor and look up. These shifts in view point will immediately show where there are anatomical and design problems. What is convenient is that anatomical “mistakes” are also almost always design glitches.
Without constantly reminding myself of the shape of the bones, the piece would quickly turn into a sack of potatoes.
Finally, there is the surface. Do I make it smooth or leave all the incredible variety of bumps and marks of the sculpting process. These lumps and marks are rich in their variety and like brush strokes in a painting, they convey the energy of the hand of the artist. It’s clear to me when the marks are just right and when they look cagey or overtly searching. On the other hand, the marks sometimes obscure the raw power and beauty of the volumetric forms the way body hair does on a real person. This is why body builders shave their body hair before a contest.
Since this is my first life size piece, I will lean towards more quotidian realness and a smother “skin” to reveal the anatomy more clearly. But I can see the day when I let the forms exaggerate and the surface be much more rough and varied.
Additional thoughts on 1/26/2026:
As of this writing at the end of January 2026 I have completed the clay work and shortly after cut it into pieces so that it would fit in the kiln. This piece is about 8’ tall and the kiln door is only 6’ tall. Also, as of this writing it is in the kiln being fired with a wood fire that is attended by members of the ceramic factory staff 24 hours a day for several days.
When the firing is done and the pieces are removed I will begin putting it back together with epoxy glue and then finishing the whole piece with burnished plaster and pigments.
When the piece was first finished in its most basic sense: it had both arms and a head, I was immediately disappointed with how superficial it looked. Frankly it looked like “Brad at the local gym flexing for the yoga hotties in the next room.” Nothing wrong with that but I wanted more gravitas.
I wanted anxiety and a bit of “Job on the dung heap of life pleading for God’s mercy.” Actually what I wanted was anxiety and layers. I wanted the bottom half to look like his knees were buckling as though he had just received an emotional gut punch while his upper torso to look clenched and strong with his face being yet another emotion: grief or longing. And all the while I wanted the composition and details adding up to a unified composition that doesn’t look like an artist who can’t make up his mind.
I wanted the viewer to experience the anxiety that comes with relating to a sculpture that is lifelike enough to inspire connection and also the forms swollen and ripe bursting with sexual vibrancy even while expressing anxiety and grief.
By the time the piece was chopped up for the kiln I had no idea if I succeeded. But I do know that it no longer looked like a prop made for a Speedo ad. I just hope it doesn’t come out of the kiln as a pile of rubble.
“Figure Study for a Monument”
Various pieces and studies.
Unfired clay
2025
A figure evolved from my sketches of an athletic woman lifting a deflated man( or human sized deflated penis) over her head.
For reasons mostly having to do with limited tools and facility, I decided to do the figure in pieces. Fire them in pieces and then assemble them but without a deliberate attempt to have the parts match and form one elegant figure. In fact, I will deliberately mismatch the pieces and use deliberately crude material to join them together like rapid set concrete and plaster.
The male figure, or penis, will likely be made of sheets of plastic that I melt and paint in garish colors. Here are some of the pieces in various stages of process.