'Bernard'.
Gilbertarts
Gilbert Arts
Bert Gilbert Sculptor
Photograph courtesy of Matthias Weber 2013
Strong design is important, but I want something more, something that questions. I generally use images and forms which seem somewhat familiar to the viewer as an invitation for a dialogue with the piece. By modifying these forms, I try to propose questions to encourage the viewer to consider the complexity and duality of all efforts and decisions. It is within these contradictions that I find glimpses of greater mysteries.
In my recent pieces, I have been casting in iron more and more packing materials in my sculpture. This detritus of our online consumer culture, with its soft corpulent forms, seems an apt metaphor for the empty opulence of consumerism and surely a bellwether for future archaeologists defining our culture.
I have been creating objects since I was a kid, spending countless hours in my father's tiny basement workshop. Toy boats, wood carvings, and elaborate alarm systems to keep my sisters out of my bedroom, were my specialties.
I received a BA in Sculpture and Painting from Indiana University in 1983, but, allowed many years to pass artistically fallow while creating a family, home, and remodeling business. When I turned 50, after years of tromping down other creative paths, I decided it was time to return to the sanctuary of my youth, making art.
Invigorated by the amazing iron casting workshops at Sculpture Trails of Solsberry, Indiana, I discovered an instant affinity in working with metal, probably forged in the steel mills and smelting plants of Northern Indiana where I spent my college summers.
I believe it is important for me to have a hands-on experience creating each piece, whether that be assembling, pouring or casting metal, or painting and drawing.
I work in many many mediums and allow the needs of a piece to define the medium. Lately, however, it is metal that fascinates me with it's malleability, structural capabilities, durability, and surface textures. Using recycled iron for casting, scrap and reclaimed steel on welded pieces, and repurposed, salvaged building materials in my mixed media works, I strive to understand the inherent language
in the history of these recycled items.