Statement–March 2011, Wall Reliefs Without the Element of Illusion

Michael Boles, Oneness of Two, 1972. Aluminum, bronze, and acrylic paint.
Available for purchase–please contact the artist.

My current sculptural work is the result of an ongoing exploration that began in 1970 with a series of shaped canvasses and constructions utilizing the wall as support. My background in printmaking and sculpture coalesced into a language that combined the two approaches, and resulted in objects that in essence were a combination of both; however, when working two dimensionally I almost immediately felt the limitations posed by the rectangle. At the time Frank Stella and others were experimenting with shaped canvas, and a little later Donald Judd with the relationship between painting and sculpture, but I felt more information could be related by maintaining and utilizing shape extensively rather than accepting the more Minimalist approach. I realized that my surfaces were not attempts at suggesting illusion, as they were free of illusion and were real within their own sculptural right. In addition, they could exist outside of the limitations of the traditional rectangle. Thus, I feel that my works purvey a real, tangible, and more engaging and evocative abstract imagery that falls somewhere between painting and sculpture.