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Darryl Bisson is
an American artist who has lived in Taiwan since 1998. He holds
a BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from Pratt Institute.
While at these institutions, his formal training was in ceramics.
Starting in the mid-nineties while he was living in New York, his
work began to evolve away from traditional ceramics towards sculpture,
eventually resulting in a complete abandonment of the kiln-firing
process in favor of the use of adobe, unfired clay reinforced with
grass fiber. In turn, he began to integrate other (primarily natural)
materials into his work such as wood and stone as well as unusual
materials like raw clay dust and rice straw. The content of Mr. Bisson・s artwork comes from a variety of sources.
Among artists whose work has influenced him are Martin Puryear,
Richard Long, and Michelle Stuart. The forms, materials, techniques,
and processes used by these artists have shown him the vast possibilities
of sculpture. In addition, he has been deeply influenced by the
experience of nature・s flux- the changing of the seasons as well
as cycles of growth, decay, and rebirth- that he observed throughout
his childhood in rural New England. Discovering these same ideas
about nature in certain aspects of Eastern thought subsequently
led him to a lifelong interest in philosophies such as classical
Taoism with its emphasis on the mysterious, invisible origin of
:the manifold secrets; of the natural world.
A firm believer, in spite of recent trends in the art world, that
aesthetics should matter as much as concepts in an artwork, Mr. Bisson
considers the subtleties of craft and materials to have the potential
to inherently convey a significant amount of an artwork・s meaning.
Thus, he puts a great emphasis on the evocative qualities of textures
and degrees of :finish; when crafting each sculpture. The visceral
effect such qualities have on the viewer are essential to the communication
of the work・s message. |
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