Artist’s Statement by Beatrice Hoffman
Creating my sculptures, I experience the ebb and tide of external sensations, and internal moods and feelings more intensely; the seclusion of the studio, and the seemingly repetative working process of refining surfaces enables a mixture of compulsion and reflection, that leads to a depth and essence in my experience and the ensuing vision.
Stroking, pressing, squeezing, scraping, shaving, hacking, slapping the form into shape, the completed sculpture contains, condenses and transforms the feelings that went into its creation, and holds them in one cohesive object.
Beauty to me is simplicity, clarity, concentration and a degree of abstraction. It must extend beyond decorative prettiness. Beauty is to be able to hold contradictions, tensions and ambivalence - it is a balance kept despite conflict.
I am fascinated by ”strong form”. With both figurative and abstract sculptures, I search for a sense of fullness contrasted with negative shapes; sharp angles between surfaces, juxtaposed with smooth surfaces.
Though agnostic myself, I am influenced by C.G. Jung’s ideas of archetypes and equally by memories of weekly childhood visits to a catholic church full of baroque painted carvings : this leaves me striving towards a spiritually potent image in a secular age.
Themes on the interface of mythology, psychology and spirituality - mental states, relationships, human identity, maternal love, and solitude are universal experiences that influence my artwork, trying to create a space for engagement and contemplation in my viewers.
Read Beatrice's work "Sculptures in Gardens" here:
Sculptures_in_Gardens.pdf
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+An interview with Beatrice Hoffman by Kay Wolf for the German cultural magazine “Frau Über Vierzig” in 2005+
Kay Wolf: Your sculptures of heads describe psychological and spiritual states of minds:
Beatrice Hoffman: My series of heads revolve around the psychological themes of human identity, gender and relationships. In this context I am drawn to sculpting in clay, stone or plaster as the most perfect medium to express feelings through form . So many emotional states find a metaphor in the physical nature and demands of sculpture; notions like gravity, balance, cavities, protuberances, directions, angles, surfaces, push and pull all have their emotional equivalent, and can all be exploited to find an equivalent for feelings that are by their nature invisible.
So spiritual issues become tangible and solid, and manifest into this world. Sculpture is particularly suited to describes a journey or process, a movement through time and place, as one walks around it and witnesses the transformation. This 360 degree circumventing also allows for contradictions or multiple realities to be included, held together and resolved.
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