Although I began my sucess as a sculptor by working in plastics, my indebtedness really hinges on one aspect of plastics that was meaningful to me. That aspect was light value. I could control the color and reflectivity of the plastic and I could reflect light. Traditionally sculpture is dark and heavy, with the exception of marble, of course, specifically Carrara marble. Michelangelo's "DAVID" is carved from that stone, and why did he love it so much? Because of its light, He saw the inner light reflected in this pure crystaline substance. These properties, light and reflectivity are what started me in plastics and eventually led me to paper.

Paper is the ultimate plastic material, an extreme example is pure alpha cellulose, the architecture of all life on this planet. as an anecdotal example excellent paper can still be made from the linen used to wrap the mummies of first dynasty egypt, as a matter of fact, in the early history of papermaking in America, mummies were imported from egypt for that purpose. such is the eternal nature of cellulose, the most humble and precious material of all civilizations. certainly it is one of the most durable materials known to man.

What is so special to me about paper is its willingness to take form, unlike the stubborn resistance of marble to conform, paper is the spouse of form to content, enhancing, reflecting and illuminating the subject. I've always said working in paper has made me a better person. You've probably heard people say that when they've found the perfect mate.

When it was my turn to discover paper, I knew I had found a lifelong involvement, something into which I could invest all my energies, and I've worked in every material and technique; steel, bronze, stone and wood, including lasers and holograms.

I love working in paper. It is ancient but for my uses it is new, and has never been used like this before in it's thousand plus year history. I am grateful for the discovery because of all the materials I have worked with, none lent themselves to my obsession with low relief sculpture, few artists are interested in the technique, but I have been involved with it for most of my adult life. low relief in paper is the perfect union, combining the possibility of the most powerful graphic line, with the promise of the full volume of the physical.

The power of the subject at this scale in relief is unlimited. Bas relief is so economical, and I dont mean simple ergonomics. The compression of such monumental scale to low relief carries all the aesthetic and impact of the heroic including parallax.

Cast paper made of cotton is a brilliant medium. in its unadulterated purity, it is pearlecent. there are no somber dark tones in the modeled geography of these panels. The relationships of light and dark begin and end in the higher frequencies, a deep line or groove in cast paper is not a dark accent. in direct light it becomes a luminous scintillating fissure.

I had to relearn low relief modeling. the inspiring works of Dessidero Da Settignano, a 15th century artist,which first motivated me to work in relief, and the more casual but exciting relief work of manzu cannot be directly applied to cast paper. although paper castings reveal even fingerprints, subtleties in modeling become lost at near distances.

Boldness is a neccesity in such rarified values. what would appear raw or harsh in bronze or stone translates into feathery atmospheric gestures in the whiteness of paper. for this reason, casn paper can absorb great amounts of energy, creative and otherwise, without bearing a trace of frustration and struggle.

The purity of paper symbolically and chemically seems to require raised consciousness and higher creative goals. perhaps it only seems so after the years spent working in the more complex chemistry of epoxy resins while growing more and more concerned about the toxic impact on me. it became increasingly difficult to invest creative energies in materials that were noxious to my health. It has taken me a long time to find and develop paper casting to my uses, but I am very happy to be using paper in this way, and my relationship with it will be a very long one.