TCC Sculpture Blog: Will Clift

I see form, gravity, and balance to create work that evokes in the viewer harmony and uncertainty at the same time. My sculptures consist of intersecting parts that support each other to stand or suspend in equilibrium; each sculpture is its own base or point of suspension. No part is extraneous or redundant, and no further means of attachment is needed. The finished sculptures are very stable and can be fully secured, but the fineness of the point of balance that I achieve in each piece emphasizes the vulnerability — not only of the sculpture — but of all things prone to gravity. Our bodies have an innate understanding of gravity and balance, and I try to create sculptures that resonate with this in both physical and emotional ways.

I see balance as the tension between order and chaos, between motion and stillness. I want to give a physical presence to the effect of gravity and balance on form — like Richard Serra’s massive steel sculptures. But at the same time I want to use lightness and whimsy to give my work a sense of life, an apparent effortlessness — like Alexander Calder’s mobiles. Through this interplay of mass and weightlessness, I hope to find an inherent sense of gesture, dance, and lyricism within a static form. (http://www.willclift.com/about.htm).