Bob Wilfong

The impelling force that began my sculpting was the love for my wife and the desire to make bronze penguins for her collection. Prior to that time, I had never shown any artistic talent, nor inclination. In fact, when I did an art show in my home town, my elementary music teacher informed me that I had previously kept my talent "well hidden". Only recently have I begun drawing and painting and I never draw my sculptural ideas. These are completely visualized and come from within. I feel this is what gives them their essence.

You have to understand, that in the start of this adventure, I was probably even more amazed at having this talent than my music teacher. My college education in zoology and subsequent three years of medical research, which included small animal surgery and pathological autopsies, gave me a high level of comfort with behavior and anatomy. Staying within this comfort zone kept all my earlier works very traditional and primarily wildlife.

As I became more aware of my talent and as I developed my technique, my desire became to explore the breadth of my abilities. My body, mind and soul quake when exposed to new ideas but quails at bringing them to life in my art. I feel my art is a form of sympathetic communication through which my feelings are transferred to the viewer for their own interpretation.

I believe the primary element is good art is its ability to stimulate emotional responses in the viewer. I have found it easier to convey responses in the viewer. I have found it easier to convey emotions through simplicity of lines and reductions of form. I have also found that creativity propagates creativity and releases both the artist and the viewer from traditional forms of interpretation. Henry Moore felt there were a number of universal archetypal forms which stimulate our subconscious. I concur and in my art I am pursuing those forms that will provide new presentations and interpretations of man's desires and aspirations that reconnect him to an understanding of self.