David Hill

This series of sculptures makes use of the fragmented figure to explore the suffering, fragility, and mortality inherent in life while alluding to hope and transcendence despite the trauma. Openings on the pieces imply various narratives of pain and draw attention to the interior of the forms as well as the significance of what is (or isn’t) held inside. I’m most interested when the wounds and scars become pathways through which light can enter, bringing a form of symbolic transcendence to the figures in much the same way that suffering, once endured, can reveal and even produce strength in a person’s life.

Whether it is through wounds, passageways, missing limbs, or bandages, the incomplete and damaged form speaks to us with an emotional resonance, reflecting the scars and pain we all sometimes experience. Ultimately my goal is to meet the audience in the midst of their own troubling circumstances and hint at the fact that there is hope despite the suffering, that in shared pain we can find solidarity and solace.

Elegy is meant as a counterpoint to the figurative sculptures, presenting the same ideas about fragility and mortality in an abstract way. Each individual form is meant as a frail reminder of individual lives, a sort of husk or shell of what once was and is now gone, drawing attention to the significance of the void within the forms. Each form is roughly modeled, leaving the mark of the maker’s hand to allude to the process of creation, which in turn connects to the process of living and dying and the wounds and scars that are gathered in the process. Elegy is ultimately a statement on our shared human condition of suffering and mortality. Seen apart from the others, each form would appear lonely and fragile, but seen collectively there is strength and solidarity.

earthenware with terra sigillatas.

dimensions variable, approximately 15’ wide as shown.

2010.