Brian Kirk
Aikuchi, steel sculpture
November 21 - December 16, 2005
Artist Reception Thursday, Dec. 1, 5:00 - 8:00pm. The public is welcome.

Biography and Artist Statement

Brian D. Kirk

“In the tradition of David Smith, Kirk welds together bold steel sculptures from industrial scraps and fabricated forms. While Kirk’s assemblages range from abstraction to figurative, the artist delights in the ambiguity inherent in a completely abstract work, which he finds more contemplative and challenging. A central dynamic in Kirk’s sculpture is the tension between the strength and expressive potential of steel.”

Sarah Tanguy, Art Critic

Biography

Kirk received his Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies in Fine Arts with a concentration in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University. Kirk received his B.A. in Fine Arts at the George Washington University and studied at the Corcoran College of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of the Americas in Mexico.

A Fulbright Teacher Program fellow, Brian studied Japanese culture in Shizouka, Japan and as Asian Studies fellow with the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture in Chinese culture in Beijing, China. He has worked as an art therapist in Washington D.C., an art specialist and program director for the Department of Defense in Germany and Belgium, a teacher/naturalist with the Smithsonian Institution’s Naturalist Center and currently teaches art with Loudoun County Public Schools and is the Fine Arts Department Chair at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia. Brian Kirk is also an adjunct professor with Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University teaching sculpture and multicultural 3D design. Brian teaches sculpture with the Art League in Alexandria, Virginia where he developed the metal sculpture program.

An avid sculptor in stone, metal, ceramics and mixed media, he exhibits locally and is affiliated with several galleries and the Washington Sculptor’s Group. He lives with his wife, four dogs, five goats and three emus near Bluemont, Virginia.

Artist Statement

I am intrigued with the expressive properties of steel and the techniques required to create metal sculpture. Using industrial scraps and new steel, lyrical and sometimes unyielding,

steel components are formed using intense heat, pressure, bending, cutting, and metalsmithing techniques. The elements are recombined into a new relationship that I feel has achieved a unifying balance.

I draw my inspiration from natural objects found in rural areas, beaches and museum collections and combine them with forms drawn from urban environments where geometric, architectural, industrial materials take precedent. The resultant sculptures combine elements of both natural and man-made objects coaxed into a unified relationship.

My Fulbright teacher tenure provided me with fellowship with the Japanese and their culture. Their devotion to metal working techniques prompted the show title, “Aikuchi” which means metal blade in Japanese. “Aikuchi” is also the name of a sculpture in the exhibit.

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