No it isn’t! At least not for these two artists that have found their inspiration-everywhere:
Speaking of another artist, called Duane Hanson. What we are talking about is real looking life size sculptures of people. You know about this somehow? We are pretty sure you do! Just think a little. – Yes! Madame Tussauds! However, these are neither created by Madame Tussauds nor are they part of it in any way. Hansons sculptures also don’t show famous people. On the contrary, they show normal people, like you and I.
Made out of fibreglass, polyester resin and even real body hair, he creates an optical illusion. This kind of art is part of Pop Art and is called hyperrealism. It’s goal is to trick your reality. Hanson made it even more difficult for you to recognize them, because he captured his figures in casual situations in a moment of deep immersive thinking, like people on the street, people buying stuff, or even a cleaning lady or another one doing the groceries.
Would you have recognized these sculptures as fake on the street? How many people do you encounter every day without giving them a second glance? Now imagine walking through a fully crowded gallery. Suddenly you are at an exit. Then you might ask yourself, where was the art? I didn’t see anything?! There were only a lot of people! … Well, that’s life, my dear.
By taking models, that don’t look “perfect”, the way that we are told what perfect is, he shows sympathy for their fatigue, desperation and their everyday problems. Isn’t that quite cool? Everyday, we see so many “perfect” models on the media, or in art. What we are shown day in day out is an idealized image of the „perfect life“ and the “perfect people” that actually don’t exist in real life. So why not make art out of the opposite?
Tim Roeloffs does quite the same, by using his dogs as models. It started, because he didn’t have the money to pay real ones, but after that, he kept to it and now it characterizes his art. In still doing so he also ridicules this perfect picture of models, even though his dogs are quite perfect. Who could even think about competing to Pivo or Jack?
Altogether one can say, that you can find inspiration to do art everywhere, be it on the streets of a city, or by the working class. So get outside today! Just open your eyes, like our artist Tim Roeloffs did, when he first discovered Berlin via bike and a camera, getting inspired by the ugliness of Berlin! Art is everywhere, but most of the time we don’t even remark on it. It doesn’t need to be beautiful, it just needs to show something, be it a situation, tease out an emotion, or be it nonsense.
To see more sculptures of Duane Hanson, click here!