Artist Statement

My sculpture relies on an architectonic process to solicit a shared psychological landscape. Through fusing materials into, for example, grid structures, I mark the relationship between the natural world, or 'house,' we inhabit, and the more sublime sense of 'home' human activity that continually seeks to synthesize into a larger sublime gestalt. My process generates questions such as, how does a steel grid, almost militaristic in its rigidity, soften into protection when festooned with scores of hard, black porcelain-cast thorns? Or, how can something as basic as a flexed length of steel cable stand in for the morphogenesis of cellular structures? Through my work, these questions are addressed.

I've found that, through skillful manipulation, common materials such as hemp rope, steel wire, and concrete reinforcement rods have the most potential to carry my meaning clearly and without extraneous baggage because of their ubiquitous nature. And when I combine these everyday materials with porcelain into repetitive forms, the results are a series of sculptures ringing with a sturdy yet ethereal presence that delves into the forces of life itself.

About the Artist

David Hollen was born in northeastern Wisconsin and studied art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minnesota. He currently lives and works in his sculpture studio in the Arts District of downtown Los Angeles, California with his husband Frank Theobald. David's sculptural work involves fabrication of various ubiquitous materials including wood, steel, stainless steel cable and porcelain castings.

David has designed and built art for theater groups, commercial establishments, public spaces and his work is held in the collection of several private collectors. His work has been shown at several Art Museums and Galleries in Southern California.