David Phelps

David Phelps is the contemporary artist I have chosen to focus on for this study. He first came to mind because I saw one of his pieces in person on the OU campus last spring, and I remember loving it but I didn’t pay any special attention to whom the artist was at the time. So a couple of weeks ago when I saw I short article on him, with the piece I had seen, I became intrigued and decided he was an artist I really liked. His sculptures are usually huge and cast in bronze. They are traditional in the sense that they are realistic depictions of humans, and bronze is a very traditional sculpture medium. However he is untraditional in his posing and placing of the models. Each is in a position, or doing something in the water. For instance in his work, “Oarsman” it is simply a man rowing a boat, but he makes it interesting by placing it as it would actually occur in water, on land. Instead of the man rowing across a lake, he appears to be out for a relaxing afternoon on a brick walkway in Tennessee. So as beautifully realistic and relaxing as his sculptures are, they are juxtaposed on completely unexpected terrain, giving the artwork a fun and unexpected twist.