Sunday, March 1, 2015
OUR STORY
Our Story
Finally, the book has come into physical form after hard and passionate work over the course of 20 years, since Uldis came up with the dream of creating such a book. It took 11 years of classical art studies, over 200 international sculpting festivals, symposiums and exhibitions in 9 years and the past 4 years spent on reading books, researching human anatomy, and creating illustrations for this book to come to life.
Be part of the event, meet the creators, support group and friends in person at Seattle Latvian Center or via internet on Livestream.com !
Event will take place at 11710 3rd Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125, USA
Book will be available to purchase June 8th on anatomy4sculptors.com.
High Hopes
At the beginning of the 1990s, on the ruins of the USSR, in the newly formed Latvian nation, a young person, named Uldis Zarins, full of ideals and hopes, dreamed of becoming a sculptor. In 1994, he was accepted to the Art College of Riga. Studies were difficult and competition was fierce, but they resulted in satisfaction. Every day he replicated famous classical Greek portraits, busts, and figures with clay. The outlook prevailed, that frequent replication of antique sculptures would facilitate the understanding of form creation.
After only half a year, Uldis understood that eyes, of course, adapt, and hands become more agile; however, understanding of the form did not materialize.
The Cheek of Amazon
One day, when replicating the head of Amazon portrait of famous sculptor Polykleitos, he ran into a problem: How to construct a cheek? It was clear that the form was not just a sphere, but several complicated forms combined. He thought: “It would be great to understand what these forms are and how they go together!”
Teachers only discouraged, saying: “Study, research, measure!” – But what to measure, when there aren’t even any corners, nor facets!? A teacher answered: “Study anatomy, maybe you’ll get by somehow.”
Teachers only discouraged, saying: “Study, research, measure!” – But what to measure, when there aren’t even any corners, nor facets!? A teacher answered: “Study anatomy, maybe you’ll get by somehow.”
First Anatomy Studies
A modeling teacher told Uldis: “If you want to understand everything, here is a human skull and anatomy book. Study and create an écorché for us!” Uldis decided to create a bust with shoulders. All of its muscles were in place, however, the sculpture looked bad. The main thing was that his understanding of the form had not increased one bit! In the place of the form, he had studied muscles.
In digging through a mountain of anatomy books, Uldis realized that they were all meant for painters and drawers. He found that all of these books were equally boring, with scant, chaotic drawings. “No one, it turns out, has thought about sculptors!” Uldis found only one anatomy book, which only slightly touched on the form -- Gottfied Bammes’ Der nackte Mensch. Then he asked himself the question: “Why are there so few pictures in the books and so much text!”
Academy Studies
After college, Uldis enrolled in the Art Academy of Latvia (Latvijas Makslas Akademija). There, same as in college, emphasis was placed on exercises, not on the understanding of how to create the form. Each time Uldis created a new sculpture, he made preparations, not only to arrange the frame and the edge, but also drew a small paper sketch where he could analyze the form in an understandable way.
Over the course of several years, drawings, sketches, anatomy books and successful photographs were accrued. Uldis began to notice, that the sketches he had created, as well as images, were in high demand among colleagues. He often heard the suggestion that he should collect them all and publish a book, which would be a composite of form analysis, as well as fundamental information about anatomy that sculptors would need to know. This was how Uldis came up with the idea for the creation of the book.
Over the course of several years, drawings, sketches, anatomy books and successful photographs were accrued. Uldis began to notice, that the sketches he had created, as well as images, were in high demand among colleagues. He often heard the suggestion that he should collect them all and publish a book, which would be a composite of form analysis, as well as fundamental information about anatomy that sculptors would need to know. This was how Uldis came up with the idea for the creation of the book.
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