Sculpting the light.By Don. AnAstasios+Sculptor

Sculpting the Light One of the differences between a painting and a sculpture is that a painting has its own light while the light of a sculpture comes from an external source. There are two types of light the sculptor uses when working on the volume, the recesses and projections of a sculpture: the incoming beams of light and the light source illuminating the sculpture.

We can understand this as one light source combining the Chiaro oscuro and the shadows thrown by the volume beyond the figure. So, we realize what an important factor the light is for a sculpture, that any variation could change the formal concept of the sculpture. A sculpture may seem more or less static, with more or less movement depending Îżn the light it receives. There are sculptures whose dramatic character is emphasized because of the viewpoint or the contrast between light and shadow. Fine transformations could also occur because of the light, as noticed in many sculptures, resembling pictoric elements.

In the History of art two behaviors are noted: a) the sculptor who has studied the art in relation to the landscape and how the location functions; b) the sculptor who often works inside a workshop intuitively, without taking into consideration external circumstances. The contrast between the Romanesque and Gothic sculptures is an example. The Romanesque sculptures relate to a linear concept, with profile clarity, slight shadows and rounded surfaces with complete illumination. In contrast, the Gothic sculptures use Chiaro oscuro to enhance and accentuate the visibility of a sculpture on which large shadows are thrown.

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This is the difference between the Hellenistic and Italian Renaissance sculptures in comparison to the sculptures created in the North. The XVI c. sculptures, boxed in niches, offer a continuous and monotonous profile, lacking plasticity. The Baroque sculptures are integrated in the trimmings of buildings dominating the space with an intense movement, like drapery on the facades of buildings.

A sculptor, although working in a workshop, must reproduce the light the form will obtain in its final location. The external space sculptures are exposed to a diffused illumination which diminishes the profile projections, the folds and the protruding elements, making the profile seem distant.

Michelangelo perfected the heads with overhanging hair on the forehead, thus reinforcing volume corporeity.

Regarding the sculptures in internal spaces, it is obvious that very accurate sources of light are provided. There has been no artist more expert than Bernini to utilize the light from the oblique secret windows to give light to sculptures with great projections. Bernini’s powerfully expressive Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is an example.

This is why the essential purpose of a sculpture is visibility, as it is perceived first in the eyes of the beholder but seeking to reach the mind. It is then that the sculpture conveys spirituality having achieved its mission – and all this is realized with the aid of chiaro oscuro, the play between light and shadow that give soul to the lifeless material, whether it is marble, metal or wood.

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In the colored sculptures tending to different hues of the skin and texture, what enhances visibility is the gold, although it does not give the statue a transcendental character relating to the divine world, but as a way for the sculptor to define the design. The opposite occurs with external space sculptures, where the dark forms are seen with greater clarity, as in the bronze statues, the profile of which can be noticed from a distance.

This is an important aspect artists, working with bronze, use trying to give greater meaning and value to their works.

The soul is expressed and highlighted through the sculpture and the lifeless material takes on life because of the light and shadow, accentuation, plasticity, unity in diversity (which is also the essence of democracy), the play between light and shadow. A sculpture, with its spirituality, surrenders and is captured first in the eye and then in the mind of the beholder, its presence becoming more and more forceful because of the light. Without light a sculpture is lifeless; it is dead, it ceases to exist.

Don.AnAstasios+Sculptor February 2017, Athens, Greece

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