M.L. SNOWDEN SCULPTURE
ASCENSION OF ELEMENTS

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A new suite of elemental sculpture is taking shape. Four breathtaking designs are rising in M.L. Snowden’s sculpture studio in California that bring us ever closer to the heart of our vital connection with planet Earth and the cosmic forces that shape our existence. Sweeping in concept, ALLUVIA, AEOLIA, CALDERA, and TERRA, redefine our planetary and human heritage shaped of water, air, fire and earth. Here in this spectacular suite, protean elevated designs are welded to Snowden’s creative technical advances in the metallurgical casting of lost wax bronze. Infused with the direct historic legacy of Rodin and an internationally established reputation as the foremost living figurative sculptor, the ASCENSION OF ELEMENTS collection rises into the light with a profound resonance for our time and for the future.

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AEOLIA:

 

“AEOLIA rises on a spiritual breath of vivid beauty and grace. Of all M.L. Snowden’s spectacular sculptures, AEOLIA expresses the element of air as an octave of artistic inspiration. Through flowing scarves of air transmuted into metal, AEOLIA transcends time and place to create a vision of the wind that has the power to shape inspiration. Viewing AEOLIA and placing one’s hands upon the sculpture, it is possible to connect to the groundswell of an indescribable positive living force that for the sculptor, nurtures transformation. To touch the AEOLIA is to enter into the realm of the sculptor.

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Through an ultimate ability to meld, blend and coax the forces of bronze, Snowden is able to achieve an unparalleled sense of the moving power of air as an undulating and flowing force that leaves an unforgettable impression. AEOLIA as a sculptural vision, forges bronze into passages that breathe subtle nuances, particularly in the wonderfully molded figure that is so sensitively felt through all its veils of draping atmosphere. AEOLIA’s mystic portrait speaks a language of wistful longing infused with certitude. In this sculpture is the personification of the idea that each of us has the possibility to rise on the breath inspiration with ideas flowing, hands benevolent and extended to begin to touch, impart, enact, converse and extend upon the mysticism that lives at the center of life as well as the art of sculpture. AEOLIA is the rippling unfolding invitation of our possibility to touch life to make a difference.

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In AEOLIA, the Fournier patina glazes the undertones of sun touched storms and wind patterns of high heat that capture smoke and the marbling of clouds. The Fournier patina is transformed in this sculpture in a rich deep glazing that courts varying light sources to reveal myriad planes. Above all, AEOLIA is revelatory across certain times of day and visual angles: in certain lights and shadows, the sculpture as a figure appears to materially transform, disappear and reconnect. In its varying views, AEOLIA as a meditation, is all possibility; it is a poem to that realm inhabited by the spirit of humankind. In its concept, it connects most closely to the Great Golden Angels Snowden created for the Main Altar of the $200 million Los Angeles Cathedral. In these collective works, the illusion of drapery itself can be seen as a spiritual evocation of wings that catch the wind of prayer and the highest good envisioned for humankind. When we see and touch AEOLIA, it is possible to open a door onto the inspirations of the great sculptor of our time.