This sculpture, a more modern depiction of Rodin’s The Thinker, was created for the same reason: to inspire thought. In this sculpture, the subject is contemplating the contents of the books. The books within the bench are paradoxes to one another, with each arguing opposing sides of an issue/ idea. Hence, the modern thinker is finding his stance on the issue, and pondering the grey area.
In our fast paced society, it is important to take time to think. We must determine our stance on issues, but more importantly, we must discover who we are in the process.
Process
This unique thinker was created using plaster gauze and soft maple. I applied plaster gauze on a model to slowly create the human form. Though the initial application took only 10 hours, the smoothing/ extra forming took 100 hours. I then mixed an acrylic bronze paint, and applied a matte to color the cast. After that, I designed a modern bench and used local soft maple to construct it.
