Joel Perlman: New Works

"Sculpture is intuitive for me. I never know what will happen until I’m doing it. Knowing the end at the beginning would ruin it. I cut lots of shapes- circles, bars, rectangles; and start moving them around, putting them together, breaking them apart. Eventually something happens; I make a sculpture’ and then I make it better. Weight, danger, movement, negative space are the elements. For inspiration I look at the past, I try and look into the future, I look at everything. I never know where the next idea will come from. It’s an adventure, a journey every time."  -Perlman

The Black Series were first created in styrofoam (building insulation sheets) and subsequently cast in bronze, “the lost styrofoam method.” I always use industrial or building materials – steel, bronze, aluminum or stainless steel and shape and join them by bolting, casting or welding. The black patina was employed to accentuate the weight and density of the bronze and the movement and mystery of the shapes.