Created as a study for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, the Gymnast Bust provides a glimpse into the creative process of the artist. Richard MacDonald created a bust that...
Created as a study for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, the Gymnast Bust provides a glimpse into the creative process of the artist. Richard MacDonald created a bust that was very classical in nature, paying homage to the Greeks. In addition, he incorporated a slight twist in the bust to give the viewer a kinetic sense of the gymnasts movement. The athletes facial expression of intense focus and deliberate control, lends greater psychological gravity to the piece.
Warm, silvery, and rare, the platinum patina of this distinctive series by Richard MacDonald creates a play of light that heightens our sense of the underlying sculpted form. Contemporary in conception and limited to editions of only eight, with some works featured as one-of-a-kind, this body of work reveals the essential beauty of the human form. As mercurial as human nature itself, light glances off the platinum creating dramatic shadows that seem to strengthen form and enhance the sense of life captured by the artist. These works balance fidelity to nature with a poetic sense of metaphor: a balance that acts on the imagination to create a catalog of personal and individual meanings unique to each viewer.