"Adventure, as it skirts the unknown, can at times bring forth art."

There are many sculptors, past and present, who inspire me on a number of levels. I'm particularly drawn to those that work in steel or iron like me, of course. David Smith, Richard Serra, Anthony Caro, Mark di Suvero, Cordell Taylor, Sophia Pitakis, Bernar Venet, Beverly Pepper, Dave Malone, Melvin Edwards, Neil Hadlock, Alexander Calder, John Bisbee, Jin Man Jo, and on and on.

But this post is about Eduardo Chillida...

I didn't discover him or his incredible body of work until about 2001. But I made up for lost time, collecting all of the books and articles I could find. I haven't yet made a pilgrimage to San Sebastian, Spain to his museum but it's still on my list. Hopefully it will endure the current economic downturn. It would be a great loss to sculpture if it were to remain closed.

Anyway, here's a quote from Chillida that I've always found compelling and inspiring, especially the last line:

From Space with its brother Time,
under the pressing heaviness of gravity
feeling material as if it were a slower space
I ponder with amazement over my ignorance.
I work to know. I value learning over knowledge.
I believe I must venture into making what I know not;
Seek to visualize where I do not see;
Strive to recognize what I cannot discern;
Attempt to identify within the realm of the unknown.
Along the unfolding of these processes,
which resemble those of creation in science,
many hardships arise.
We have the hands of yesterday
but we lack those of tomorrow.
I have a conception of the work before I undertake it,
but I do not know,
nor do I want to know at the moment of creation,
how will it be.
I possess many facts about the work in which I am living,
but will not allow this knowledge
to inhibit my freedom nor the breath of the present.
I believe works conceived a priori are born dead.
Adventure, as it skirts the unknown,
can at times
bring forth art.

[bold text mine...]

Sadly (and much too early), Eduardo passed on at age 78 in August of 2002. I had just discovered him and then he was gone. I will never meet him now but would've liked to. He continues to inspire me...