Blake Ward

Babylonian Marut (Angel of Babylon)

2014

Babylonian Harut (Angel of Babylon). The Qur’an (2:102) relates an account of two angels named Harut and Marut who were sent to the people of Babylon to test their faith by teaching them magic. Bronze Monaco 2014 Unique Piece 29.9 x 10.2 x 17.3 inches ARTIST STATEMENT: "The beauty, grace and symmetry of traditional figurative sculpture has always called to me. It is my school and my obsession. My language is the figure and I feel the need to comment on the human condition, sometimes distorted by demons, and other times enchanted by all that is pure within us. I have renewed my relationship to the human form. It has undergone a metamorphosis from silent conformity, where the rules and proportions are tantamount to a partial figure where the human condition becomes of primary importance. I want to stretch the canons of classical realism by giving beauty another voice that challenges socio-political norms. I speak of spirit and courage, of heritage and of imperishable strength. Today I challenge the traditional figure, creating a characterization of the Spirit; a metaphor to our inner world that might encourage us to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves. Consciousness, as a philosophical concept, can lead us many places, from the empirical world of the cognitive sciences to a theoretical one, where psychology attempts to provide the answers. It is my intention to reach into the 21st. century using sculpture to transcend disciplinary boundaries between the physical bodies in bronze and the self-knowledge and understanding of the ethereal realm that is our internal landscape." ~ Blake Ward...

Angel of Dignity. Hamael encourages us to persist and be practical. Bronze Monaco 2012 Unique Piece 29.1 x 7.5 x 13.4 inches ARTIST STATEMENT: "The beauty, grace and symmetry of traditional figurative sculpture has always called to me. It is my school and my obsession. My language is the figure and I feel the need to comment on the human condition, sometimes distorted by demons, and other times enchanted by all that is pure within us. I have renewed my relationship to the human form. It has undergone a metamorphosis from silent conformity, where the rules and proportions are tantamount to a partial figure where the human condition becomes of primary importance. I want to stretch the canons of classical realism by giving beauty another voice that challenges socio-political norms. I speak of spirit and courage, of heritage and of imperishable strength. Today I challenge the traditional figure, creating a characterization of the Spirit; a metaphor to our inner world that might encourage us to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves. Consciousness, as a philosophical concept, can lead us many places, from the empirical world of the cognitive sciences to a theoretical one, where psychology attempts to provide the answers. It is my intention to reach into the 21st. century using sculpture to transcend disciplinary boundaries between the physical bodies in bronze and the self-knowledge and understanding of the ethereal realm that is our internal landscape." ~ Blake Ward...

A figurative sculpture made from stoneware.

The abstracted figure has always been a visual preoccupation for Legge – particularly as it relates to the Japanese idea of “zan ketsu no bi” – finding beauty in something missing. P...