Allen Lavee

I have had a lifelong interest and connection with the practice of all types of visual art. Both of my parents are artists, and as a child I frequently accompanied my mother to her life drawing group. I enjoy creating both two-dimensional (drawing, painting, photography, printmaking) and three-dimensional works. I love the immediacy of both watercolor as well as welded sculpture. Creations in both of these media can be "finished" in one session, and do not necessarily require (or even take kindly to) reworking. My fascination with welding has been life-long. It is an immediately gratifying process quickly yielding something permanent yet changeable. There is no glue to set, clay to fire, paint to dry...taking seconds to cool, a metal weld is as strong as it will ever be almost instantly. Changes are equally rapid, as the tools for cutting metal work as quickly as those for its joining.

My sculptures are semi-abstract representational interpretations of human and animal forms, and are often the 3D representation of an earlier life model drawing. I aim to capture and convey the motion, energy, balance, and substance of my subjects using positive and negative spaces and line. In many ways my works are three-dimensional drawings. These sculptures are constructed from 14 to 20 gauge mild and stainless steel, and welded using the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) and MIG (Metal Inert Gas) processes.