Michael Pugh - Sculptor, Painter

artist statement

The language of my work is a synthesis of images from dreams, primitive cultures, and history. The ideas are of a personal, speculative philosophy that is based on intuition, observation, and experience. My sculptures and paintings often appear bent on the elemental, religious, and macabre. They avoid any direct references to mythological narrative but are manifestations of what I call, paradoxically, subjective archetypes.

Much of my work is characterized by its symmetry. This is largely the influence of religious symbols like the mandala, Star of David, and crucifix which I believe to be archetypal in form or at least make reference to this phenomena of the subconscious. I compose my work with a near perfect religious symmetry but always deviate from this impulse to avoid implications of catechism. Instead, I "humanize" the figures by depicting them starved, missing heads, limbs, or covered in indecipherable language. This prevents my work from functioning as symbols or decorative objects. The work then becomes a tangible poetry that speaks of one's participation in the enigma of the human story as a human, not as a personality or individual.