ARTIST STATEMENT

I make assemblage sculptures from re-purposed salvage to better understand rituals and their accompanying regalia. My intent is to create objects that have some of the power, mystery, and beauty of traditional pieces but that do not belong to any specific cultural or religious tradition. Across time and cultures, the same simple geometries, anthropomorphic, and zoomorphic shapes, have been made and repeatedly used in rituals. They have been made in stone, wood, metal, glass, with or without additional adornments. These images speak to us in some deep and archetypal way. I hope that the viewer can sense how rituals and ritual objects deepen our beliefs and sense of community. 

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I started using salvage because it was free. In time, I came to believe that even ‘Art’ does not justify the ongoing and unsustainable exploitation of our natural resources. Most importantly, I realized that using salvage was thematically critical to the works’ meaning and aesthetic. The patina of age lends itself to creating instant relics while reusing old material symbolically replicates the syncretic process by which one belief system adapts the ideas, rituals, and regalia of other systems.

I hope you enjoy my work and please send any feedback to me at raymondcshort@aol.com

Thank you.