P. Koshland Sculptures - Gallery Works Page

<h3>P. Koshland Sculptures</h3> - <p> <a href="display/adolescent_attitude.html">Mood / Adolescent Attitude</a> <br><a href="display/athlete.html">Torsos / Athlete</a> <br><a href="display/birth_of_the_world.html">Torsos / Birth of the World</a> <br><a href="display/crossover_and_winging.html">Movement / Crossover & Winging</a> <br><a href="display/dancing_torso.html">Language / Dancing Torso</a> <br><a href="display/defiant.html">Language / Defiant</a> <br><a href="display/denial.html">Mood / Denial</a> <br><a href="display/discus_iii_propulsion.html">Language / Discus III Propulsion</a> <br><a href="display/femininity_torso.html">Torsos / Femininity Torso</a> <br><a href="display/flash_point.html">Language / Flash Point</a> <br><a href="display/flight.html">Movement / Flight</a> <br><a href="display/four_fractions_odalisque.html">Language / Four Fractions Odalisque</a> <br><a href="display/gymnast.html">Torsos / Gymnast</a> <br><a href="display/high_kicks.html">Movement / High Kicks</a> <br><a href="display/implosion.html">Mood / Implosion</a> <br><a href="display/iron_man.html">Torsos / Iron Man</a> <br><a href="display/leaping_torso.html">Movement / Leaping Torso</a> <br><a href="display/next_step.html">Movement / Next Step</a> <br><a href="display/ny_lady.html">Language / NY Lady</a> <br><a href="display/opening_out.html">Mood / Opening Out</a> <br><a href="display/origami_man.html">Movement / Origami Man</a> <br><a href="display/passion.html">Mood / Passion</a> <br><a href="display/power_curl.html">Language / Power Curl</a> <br><a href="display/pulling_apart.html">Mood / Pulling Apart</a> <br><a href="display/relief_nude.html">Mood / Relief Nude</a> <br><a href="display/relief_nude.html">Mood / Relief Nude</a> <br><a href="display/semi_reclining.html">Language / Semi reclining</a> <br><a href="display/sinuous.html">Language / Sinuous</a> <br><a href="display/sitting_girl.html">Language / Sitting Girl</a> <br><a href="display/sitting_torso.html">Torsos / Sitting Torso</a> <br><a href="display/slip_up.html">Movement / Slip Up</a> <br><a href="display/somersault.html">Movement / Somersault</a> <br><a href="display/squatting_woman.html">Movement / Squatting Woman</a> <br><a href="display/the_wink.html">Mood / The Wink</a> <br><a href="display/torsion.html">Movement / Torsion</a> <br><a href="display/tough_cat.html">Language / Tough Cat</a> <br><a href="display/twisting_torso.html">Torsos / Twisting Torso</a> <br><a href="display/unfurling.html">Movement / Unfurling</a> <br><a href="display/up_or_down.html">Movement / Up or Down</a> <br><a href="display/upwards.html">Movement / Upwards</a> <br><a href="display/vulnerable.html">Mood / Vulnerable</a> <br><a href="display/waiting_girl.html">Mood / Waiting Girl</a> <br><a href="display/waiting_torso.html">Torsos / Waiting Torso</a> <br><a href="display/weeper.html">Mood / Weeper</a> <br><a href="display/woman_looking.html">Mood / Woman Looking At Her Heel</a> <br><a href="display/working_back.html">Torsos / Working Back</a>  <h4>Biography</h4> <P><B>1949</B> I was born in Chicago but grew up in a small town on Long Island, NY, USA, one of five children in a scientific, academic family. The whole family moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1965 just in time for Free Speech and Free Love. After graduating from high school in 1967, I went back East to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1967, studying biochemistry and anti-war activism.</P> <P><B>1970</B> I took my first drawing class and thereafter mixed courses of academic studies with extracurricular drawing classes at the Night School of the School of Fine Arts of Boston, Cambridge Arts and Crafts, the summer School of the San Francisco Art Institute, and even the Visual Studies Department, Harvard University.</P> <P><B>1972</B> I graduated and finished my first sculpture. At this time I also started working as a scientific illustrator.</P> <P><i>Coming from a scientific background and being a sports type, my early pieces were aimed toward the 'real', ie. bodies. So within the limits of my technical skills and knowledge of anatomy, I was trying to capture a naturalistic sentiment, ie. how people hold themselves or a moment in time between movements, etc.</i></P> <P><B>1975</B> I arrived in Australia and traveled for 2 years throughout Australia, collecting lizards, sculpting anywhere and with any wood I could acquire. I became a member of the Sculptors' Society and exhibited and sold through this venue until 1981. I learned the process of lost wax casting at the Tin Shed of Sydney University from Alan Crawford who is still casting the majority of my bronze sculptures.</P> <P><i>During these years I learned enough anatomy and design to start discarding literalness and to aim for verisimilitude and to use exaggeration to emphasize energy and emotion. My interests centered on what one expresses with one's body from a personal point of view.</i></P> <P><B>July 1982</B> I had my first exhibition at Robin Gibson Gallery in Sydney. Since then I have exhibited in group shows at Robin's every year and have had solo exhibitions there every 2-4 years.</P> <P><B>1982-83</B> I traveled to Europe for the first time and toured extensively the art museums, extending my knowledge of art history and my awareness of modern sculptors and contemporary art. I returned to Australia in December 1983 and resumed sculpting and continued to expand my knowledge of art by trips to Asia and Southeast Asia.</P> <P><i>The result of increased understanding of art history was a strengthening of my poses - larger sculptures, more definite statements, more action in the sculptures about movement and generally more liberties with how I described human anatomy. I saw that as well as bodies having language, sculpture also has language for representing bodies, ie. from realistic to abstract.</i></P> <P><B>1986 & 87</B> My next exhibitions after Europe were in Sydney and Canberra.</P> <P><B>1987</B> I moved from wedded bliss in the suburbs to single life in the inner city just in time for the AIDS epidemic.</P> <P><i>In this period of turmoil I broadened the range of what I was trying to express with my sculptures, from intense personal emotions to more universal ideas as well. The active sculptures began to defy gravity.</i></P> <P><B>1989</B> A major production year in which I participated in 4 exhibitions including another solo show.</P> <P><B>1990</B> I decided to spend a year in Paris as a sabbatical and attempted to learn to paint. Despite all the wonderful examples of painting around me and the emotional pressures that demanded expression, I didn't succeed in mastering 2 dimensional art and colour. However the experimentation with new materials and expressiveness and the overall experience of living in Paris had a profound influence on my sculptures. Since then I have been splitting my time between Sydney and Paris with some working time also in the US.</P> <P><i>After the freedom of paint where nothing has to actually stand up or connect one part to the next, the guiding idea for sculpture was 'why not?' as I experimented with dividing the body up in less traditional ways, no longer differentiating between inside and outside and doing away with solid contour lines. I pushed to find the minimal amount of anatomy that was necessary to express a body part. At the time my interest in dance and athleticism increased and is reflected in the kinds of poses and energy of the sculptures.</i></P> <P><B>1997</B> I showed the <i>Acrobat</i> series in Sydney and these were my first entrée into the US market.</P> <P><i>I am exploring several themes of work at the moment, a series of half figures dealing with extreme moments and emotions, site specific commissions ranging in size and mood from thoughtful to uplifting as well as trying other materials to work with and other ways to exhibit sculptures.</i></P> <P><B>2001</B> My first solo exhibition in Paris, something to look forward to!</P>  <h4>Contact Information</h4> <p><b>Paris</b><br> 17 reu du Pont aux Choux<br> 75003 Paris France<br> telephone: 33 1 42 72 52 76<br> facsimilie: 33 1 40 21 84 49</p> <p><b>Sydney</b><br> 2/190 Hastings Parade<br> North Bondi, NSW<br> Australia 2026<br> telphone: 6 12 9300 0713<br> facsimilie: 6 12 9300 0713<br> </p> <p><a href="mailto:koshland@koshart.com">Email: koshland@koshart.com</a></p>  <h4>Studio</h4> <P>Unleashed is another of the Extreme Moment series. The objective of this series is to represent moments of excessive emotions; at that instant when there is the shift from feeling to action. In trying to capture these transient moments I have returned to a more literal anatomy in the effort to convey the driving force that comes from within.</P> <P><i>Swish</i> is an example of my sculptures without bases. I like creating sculptures that can be shown outside the usual settings. Hanging a sculpture on a wall gives the feeling that it is defying gravity. The <i>Acrobat</i> series are desktop sculptures that are can be played with and balanced in different positions. Alternatively I try to integrate the "plinth" into the sculpture by having sculptures "fall off the table", or sit over the edge of the base.</P> <P><i>Options</i> is one of my recent maquettes. There are ideas that are under consideration for commissioning to larger size. It is so much fun to take a client's suggestion and see where it leads to as a sculpture. <i>Upwards</i> resulted from a client wanting something to "make her heart sing when she walked into her garden". <i>Options</i> hopefully will suggest rationale decision making to clients entering the office of a financial consultant.</P> <P><i>Seeing Through</i> was made possible by exploring some of the new materials available in recent times. I find that using new materials sparks new ideas about form, solidity and energy.</P>  <h4>Body Language / Sculpture Language</h4> <p>On a personal level body language is about how we move or hold ourselves and what we express with those gestures and sometimes what we feel inside as we do these things. On a more abstract level body language can be used to communicate general ideas, emotions or ideals of movement.</p> <p>In sculpture the illusion of a figure is created in stone, wood, resin or other material by representing anatomy faithfully, or by creating a language that suggests that anatomy but does not describe it literally. In moving from the realistic representation to the abstract language a sculptor can, for instance, selectively minimize forms, exaggerate proportions, create unnatural holes and hard edges in order to make us look at the figure in a different manner.</p>