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Hisham Youssef

Statement

My work has always been about the search, my exploration through. I am a self-taught artist. My education was a series of self apprenticeships, first in building construction and design, then in specialty fabrication and restoration for museums and individuals. This process, while possibly longer than traditional academic training, has enabled me to master a broad range of skills and has strengthened my artistic vision.

I live and work in the forests and fields of Western Pennsylvania. This has had a profound effect on my development as an artist. Experiencing this environment set me on my primary path: exploring the transFORMative power of motion. I was digging my way down to the Form of Motion, through my vision of Balance and Imbalance as an expression of Order and Chaos. Through my deepening relationship with Nature, I found the motion of the Natural World as a joining of the circle and the straight line, two seemingly opposite forms. There are straight lines throughout Nature. Anything that has motion spins. Anything that spins, has an axis. An axis is a straight line. The faster the spin, the straighter the line. The straighter the line, the more powerful the motion. However, the closer the axis gets to perfect straightness, to perfect Order, the closer it also comes to Chaos.

Building upon the Laws of Thermodynamics, my exploration culminated in the 1^st Law of Sculptural Dynamics (2001), which states, “ For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Form is the sum of Action, therefore, for every form there is an equal and opposite form”.

My work ranges in scale from two inches to sixty feet. I work in many media; metal, plaster, found object - but wood is my primary focus. I have worked with wood all of my life.

During my sculpting, I document the moment when I cut away the wood to reveal the vision beneath. I capture all of the rejected material and exhibit it in an ongoing series, “This is Not Art”.

I was born and raised in America in an artistic environment by Egyptian and Russian parents. This has had a deep influence on my personality and my work. The early exposure to varied cultures and concepts has allowed me to explore different aspects of myself and of the ways we interpret the world.

My most recent work is searching two paths. One is exploring the life of Family, as action, memory, stability and change. Another path is looking at emotional sexuality; the masculine and feminine in the individual and how the acceptance or denial of these elemental aspects creates change in Form.

Hisham Youssef