Hugh Chapman

Hugh Chapman Artist Statement 2017

In the darkest times of my life recovering from the most lethal form of meningitis, everything was so confused and unclear. Many people were less than kind, but, in the beauty and tangibility of the natural world, I found myself a place of peace and understanding. This event changed my brain and me as a whole, it created me the artist and the thinker that I have become.

My work is, and will be, a never-ending quest to translate my thoughts of, and emotions about, this world into other worldly forms that align and complement the world our home. It has been said by people that it is pointless to aim to create a work of beauty. I believe that, in this time, this is more important than ever for human existence. I feel that my success is measured by the reaction of my fellow human beings to my work.

My ultimate goal as a sculptor is to create work that is of a positive psychological impact; an antidote to the brutality of modernity’s ambitions to seemingly remove beauty from the creations of man. It is not enough that we leave beauty simply to the things that we find in the natural world. I will not become complacent and my work will evolve over time, like a living organism. My intention will remain the same; to engage in a dialogue between man’s practices and nature’s dynamics, rhythms and systems. I have never wanted to write an artist’s statement, but I have been asked by many to do so. It is my concern that explaining oneself in this way can become restricting to one’s creative journey and divert the individual’s ability to react to my work.