Terry Maker

I explore the process of art making while addressing themes relating to human desire and decay, death and resurrection, both mundane and sacred and mark making, both literal and figurative.

By utilizing a diverse range of commonplace, discarded, domestic objects as well as traditional art making materials, I cast, compose and assemble sculptural forms that are subsequently cut, drilled, scraped or otherwise manipulated to reveal the “guts” of the matter. Gleaning detritus for its dual identity creates a startling conclusion. What is common place and rough hewn mulch becomes formally graceful.

Cutting through this compacted matter, I slice off layers of material which store the basic genetic code for the resulting art piece, providing the structure for new, replicated, cross sections. These revealed surfaces, present the viewer with a  visual puzzle, which compels one to question accepted modes of art making and confront this unique visual vocabulary. My process of cutting into the block of amalgamated materials, revitalizes and assigns new meaning to the excavated substratum – a recorded history of intention and random chaos.

Inherent in my contemporary practice is the quest to investigate a new way of mark making, surgically cutting through the face of art in an attempt to go behind and beyond the surface and penetrate the structural underpinnings. This pursuit, one that obliterates the line between painting and sculpture, connects my work to other artists such as Gordon Matta Clark, Lucio Fontana, early Chuck Arnoldi, Jae DeFeo, and to some extent Tara Donovan, minus the slicing.