Riflesso Sculpture

My name is Roman Pivtoranis. I was born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1989. My family and I moved to Bologna, Italy in the early 2000s, where I studied, and now work as a 3d artist. I was always into computer graphics and only recently moved to a traditional medium. It took me some time to figure out what was missing in my work and understand that without intimate contact with the medium, there cannot be a proper transmission. Everything clicked into place the first time I tried to work with clay. It’s a perfect medium of expression, able to transmit the subtlest of nuances and lock them in time and space. The main subject of my work is the metaphysical nature of human beings. I use concepts such as Persona, with its original meaning in Greek - Prósōpon, "face; appearance; mask used in ancient theatre to denote a character or, more generally, a social role". I explore various states of the mind and give them a mask. I also use concepts like Daemons - the guiding spirits of ancient Greece. There’s always a contraposition between the opposites, male-female, passive-active, and object-subject. I make use of the three-dimensionality of my sculptures in exploring the given situation in more dimensions at once. Each sculpture has an obvious, easily understood front side and a more hidden, subtle expression in the back. There, I can play with metaphysical concepts, depicting the true nature of existence, as I perceive it. Each sculpture is a reflection of the artist, in my case, it’s more of a thesis on a separate subject. This thesis in the form of a sculpture shows a certain state of mind, its cause, and its resolution, giving the viewer both the possibility of contemplation as well as the instruments of resolution. My main medium of expression is clay. The initial draft is done on paper, using graphite or charcoal. A miniature draft is created using oil-based clay to figure out any issues before the main production. When all the issues are resolved the real work starts. The sculpting process can take from one to three months, depending on the complexity and time available. After the sculpture process is done, the sculpture is emptied and fired in a kiln to a terracotta state. The sculpture is then sanded, refined, painted with acrylics, and sealed with acrylic resin.