American sculptor Art Fairchild works in both monumental sculpture and small-scale maquettes. His designs range from simple forms to intricately detailed compositions...
American sculptor Art Fairchild works in both monumental sculpture and small-scale maquettes. His designs range from simple forms to intricately detailed compositions. Familiar themes seen in his work range from repetitious elements and mathematical arrays to themes of dance and nature.
The driving force behind Fairchild’s work is the interaction of shape, form and balance: contrasting simplicity with complexity. Fairchild has always been intrigued by the interplay of textures utilizing wood, metal, stone and glass to create dynamic and visually captivating works of art. He explores modular forms and kinetic movements - transforming inanimate objects into seemingly living beings - and is steadfast in his everyday fabrication process in figuring out how to make the impossible become possible.
Like many elements of his work, Fairchild’s creative process is dichotomous: He marries a rigorous engineering ability with a deeply seated intuition, using self-imposed parameters to shape his works. Fairchild loves rules – but realizes the greatest moment of a rule is when it demands change. He understands the inherent nature of a material - such as the relationship between steel tubes and in turn, to the elements. His monumental public work is often subject to the rigors of the environment. To ensure longevity, he studies how metals behave when subject to oxidization. Fairchild lets his intuition guide his realization in the process of his art and changes the rules when he realizes a moment of singularity during the act of creation.
The result of Fairchild’s intuitive realization is often unbridled joy – the joy of the seemingly effortless glide of ball bearings as they turn a frozen vision of tumbled bolts or the joy of experiencing subtle light changes in handmade glass panels suspended in an Escher-like field of steel tubing. His art often evokes the primal urge to touch and become immersive in his poetic works that speak to the intangible.
Fairchild’s early experiences as an apprentice and carpenter became innate to his ability to engineer some of the most challenging sculptural forms. A long-time admirer of artists, architects, and creative visionaries like Barbara Hepworth, Frank Lloyd Wright, Tony Smith, and Samuel Lynne Galleries’ own John Henry, viewers can clearly see evidence of their inspiration coming through in Art Fairchild’s works. His success as a contemporary American sculptor has yielded him an impressive national footprint, in notable public and private collections. Fairchild lives and works in Dallas, TX.
