For Halloween the Kwan Fong Gallery welcomed the beautiful light sculptures of Sean Sobczak. So the week before I went to Downtown LA to interview the artist. My cousin Stephanie was staying with us and she was happy to accompany me and be my co-pilot through the maze of LA freeways.
We were in for a treat. Walking into Sean's studio at the Brewery was like walking into a dream: huge luminescent multi-coloured larger than life sea-creatures welcoming us, seahorses everywhere, sea dragons, a jellyfish, a mermaid, a two-headed dragon, a spider, dragonflies. We entered a fairy-tale universe of pastel colours and soft shapes, the vibrant phastasmagoria of a child’s imagination. Check out his work on his website: http://www.sandmancreations.com/ and also on www.myspace.com/sandmancreations .
His inspiration comes mainly from the Burning Man Festival, an art festival in Nevada, on a dry lakebed, 3 hours outside of Reno. It is a city built by the participants, over 25.000 people. It is over-the-top massive art and impossible to describe. It is all about meeting people and participating.
Other than that they are things he loved as a child, like seahorses. " I really love seahorses, they really became an inspiration for me. I first went to the 2001 Burning Man and was so inspired. I wanted to bring something the next year. I only owned a hammer and a screwdriver. So I went to the hardware store and bought tools. I was 31 and realized I was a sculptor."
"I am working on an octopus right now. So I am spending time on YouTube working out its movement. They are stunning creatures. I look at things; try to get back in touch with the magic of seeing them for the first time.”
It was strange to leave the studio. The happy, childlike universe of Sean’s creatures had taken us back to when we were small. It was so lovely to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade...
My nephew Zak who wqas over here for Halloween is a real fan, he adored the two-headed dragon. Christine loved the multi-coloured worm; my favourite was the blue sea-dragon.
Last week the exhibition finished and Michael , Janet and I helped take the creatures back to the Brewery. How sad it was to see them leave.
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