Predator / Prey Constellation
24’ 8” x 24’ x 24’
Fabricated steel
2015
2015 Open Studio Fellow
Artist Statement
The imagery that pervades my work reflects a lifelong fascination with animals. As a child this led to hours of watching, drawing, and imagining. When I began making sculpture as an adult I developed these mental images in three dimensions. Facility is not the objective of my work, but a means to convey an expressive moment. The materials I use retain a raw, immediate quality. Presence and absence reverberate in the sculptures: a network of steel lines builds the form, drawing and re-drawing the animal, creating a tension like the sudden sighting of a wild beast. The surrounding environment penetrates the negative spaces between the lines of metal; the landscape itself is embedded in the work. To make the sculptures I search scrap yards for pieces that have been discarded and ravaged by life in the yard. Bent and twisted, such pieces contain energy and a potential new life. Industrial refuse is transformed to living form.
Wendy Klemperer
Born: Boston, MA, USA
Resides: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Education
BFA, Pratt Institute, 1983
BA, Harvard/Radcliffe, 1980