In a theme on the body, it seems appropriate to explore something as corporeal, as tangible and physical, as sculpture. There are as many kinds of sculpture as there are materials and techniques for working with them. Sculptures can be gigantic and overwhelming, or small and intimate. 

Our relationship with sculpture differs from that of our relationship with two-dimensional work. Sculptures exist in the same real space as we do. We can touch them, perhaps hold them in our hands, certainly walk around them. If they are installations, we can even walk into or through them. 

Carving, modelling, constructing 

In this section we look at sculptors who carve, and sculptors who build up with clay (two of them do both). In the next chapter we will explore construction.

How does carving differ from working with clay, or constructing with found objects? Carving involves paring, cutting or peeling away. The Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475-1564) felt that he was not so much creating a sculpture as revealing or even “releasing” an entity that already existed within the marble. Whereas with clay, you are building, adding, extending.