Because I Can't Sing or Dance: Sculptures by Brett Kern

Brett Kern is a sculptor and arts professor who hails from Elkins, West Virginia. Working with clay in a variety of methods he fuses a love of history, nostalgia and science into his artwork.

An example of these influences combining would be his series of ceramic “inflatable” dinosaur sculptures. At first glance they appear to be toys reminiscent of your childhood, their plumpness and rippled edges express realistic tension of the “air” pushing to escape. His craftsmanship and attention to detail is so strong, only the weight of the object gives it away. To top it off, a very unique aspect of the ceramic sculptures is the similarity in evolution the clay undergoes to fossilization of bones: A physical object is covered in a material that over time transforms into a rock.

In addition to his inflatable sculptures Brett has been creating a collection of sculptures he calls the “Hellenistic Series”. These sculptures are inspired by well known Greek statues Brett reinterprets into a modern context. The death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. marks the beginning of the Hellenistic period and a transition period for artists. “I admire them because the sculptors of the time moved away from the romanticized god-like figures of the Classical Greek Period and started to make sculptures of everyday people, in sometimes inglorious situations, warts and all,” Brett says.

Making its debut into Brett’s Hellenistic series is a new ceramic sculpture titled “Rocky At Rest” which is based on the Greek bronze sculpture “Terme Boxer” (Boxer At Rest circa 323-21 B.C.). This sculpture brought on many challenges (See Interview) to create but he captured the essence of both men and their historical standings for a fantastic result. The title of this exhibit is “Because I Can’t Sing or Dance” which is a response from Rocky Balboa, in the first movie, when asked “Why do you want to fight?”

Read more on our website: http://www.blackbookgallery.com/artists/brett-kern/