Andrea Eisenberg

As an artist, and more specifically as a sculptor, I am interested in people.  Understanding the human figure as a live body and as an emotional body go hand in hand for me.  My work is figurative and specific to the individual.  I try to capture a sense of the particular person in my portraits. For me a portrait can be a life-size figure or smaller, a nude torso, or the more common portrait head or mask.  The gestures, movements, and energy, basically the landscape of the human figure or face, reflect an individual.  Even while using foundational constructs of mass, form, planes, and anatomy, I hope my empathy toward the person will emerge, capturing not just their physicality but their personal nature. I model the portrait in clay.  I work from inside to outside, following what the figure is doing or feeling.  I try to reflect a certain moment, movement, tension, or gesture.  I don’t stylize or beautify the sculptural portrait.  A raw, organic quality often appeals to me; surface is secondary to the inner energy of the piece.  For permanence, I cast sculptures in plaster or cement. For me, successful sculptures reflect a sense of wholeness, and aliveness.  The weight, strength, and gravity in the figure suggest stillness and monumentality within the sculpture.  These interplay with gestural movement and the tensions necessary to suggest life.  The sculptures of Michelangelo, Bernini, Rodin, Marini, and Moore teach and stabilize me even as I’m increasingly drawn to study ancient sculptures, including those of the Mexican Olmec, Greek, and Egyptian cultures.  Phil Listengart, at Purchase College, inspired my interest in figure modeling and Barney Hodes at The Art Students League, moved me forward as a sculptor. I attempt to create sculptures with depth and dignity, hopefully reflecting the people who model for me.  This is what I try to do.