Artist Statement
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Egyptian born sculptor Sam Shendi’s work explores the relationship between vertical and horizontal and the interplay of gravity whilst simultaneously exploring the human figure.
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His current body of work, mostly rendered in steel, are cut from sheets and welded, to produce perfect angles and lines. The manipulation of the steel, aids the way the light falls on the pieces giving them a friendly almost weightless look, impervious to the power of gravity. Assisted by the use of colour to deceive the eye, flouting a sense of gravity and taking the attention away from the material. Also giving the work a strong optical impact.
These sculptures are like three-dimensional pictures. They are subtle reminders that the line of art history is not broken. Firmly based in architectural forms, geometrical elements and modernist morphology he brings in a twist of fun and playfulness, sometimes evolving into pieces rather balancing on the border of design, sometimes developing into sculptures of very unique artistic expression. We can see a clear tendency towards abstraction, beginning with rather traditional sculptures of a strong modernist influence, and slowly evolving into simpler and minimal elements, which then form his most recent pieces. The final finished works take a fine line between representation and abstraction, stripping human nature down to its essence, and then expressing it in a sculptural language.
There is always one important element, functioning as a keystone connecting all his creation – the theme of a human being in his most genuine form. Shendi always develops his creation around themes, which are common, understandable and important to all of us, no matter what our taste, age or cultural background may be. His aim is to stimulate the audience into thinking about the message in each piece making us reflect upon our actions. The viewer is left with an impression of the corners of our future.
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