Steven Siegel is a NY-based artist who uses recycled and reclaimed materials to create mind boggling and very creative sculptures. He has been honored with many prestigious awards and grants during his career of almost 30 years.

Better known for creating large sculptures, the artist uses newspapers, cardboards, plastic bottles, rubber hoses and bailed up floppy disks to create imaginative and impressive sited works. Most of his works are spread and installed throughout the Europe and United States.

Steven's smaller works are finely crafted and mysteriously designed. The best thing is, all his works are created out of waste materials. Thus, making a significant contribution to the environment. Lets learn more about him in the interview below:

Steven Siegel is an artist who has worked with large quantities of pre and post consumer materials for close to 30 years. His simultaneous interest in aesthetics, science and our social/ political condition is something that was fostered when he was an undergraduate at Hampshire College in the mid 1970s. Since that time he has settled down in upstate NY, where he has busy studio practice, and continues to travel the world to create the large sited pieces that he is best known for. He is represented by Marlborugh Chelsea Gallery in New York.

The use of large quantities of newspaper, shredded rubber, aluminum cans, construction debris and other materials came about as a result of his interest in geology and the notion that our species, through the manipulation and eventual discarding of huge amounts of natural resources, is actually creating a new geology. He notes that using free materials is always a plus for artists who like to make big things, especially if they are temporary.

The first piece in his ongoing paper series was built on Staten Island in 1989 as a nod to the Fresh Kills Land Fill. There have been over 30 paper pieces built since then, with the largest using upwards of 20 tons of paper. In the late 1970s and early 80s most of his work was made of more traditional materials, such as wood, and canvas.

"Biography" is an ongoing studio project that incorporates many of the processes, techniques and materials that Siegel has used over the years. Growing from right to left, the piece is now over 80 feet long, and can be seen as history; geologic, evolutionary, and personal. Biography has no fixed endpoint, no design, and can not be seen all at once because of its scale. In this sense it is just like the evolution of species, the formation of landscapes, or the story of a person's life. It is a running improvisation that will continue for the foreseeable future. It is built in seamless sections so that all or parts of it may be exhibited.

The theme of geology and landscape was paramount in Siegel's work up until about 2000, when he started to find ways to work Evolution and all it entails into his sited and studio sculpture. A series titled "Wonderful Life" after the book by Stephen Jay Gould took up the years 2002 - 2008. As always, the idea was to emulate the processes observed rather than depict or illustrate actual organisms. Siegel is an abstract artist who sees his many interests as a running, background parallel to the objects he creates, whose primary motivation and reason for being is his interest in aesthetics.

The sited works, or installations that are closest to Siegel are the ones that were created in the most interesting and challenging landscapes. These include "Like a hive, like an egg?" at Arte Sella in Italy, "Freight and Barrel" in Pittsburgh, and "Like a rock, from a tree", in Korea.

If Siegel has one word of advice for aspiring artists, it is that one should not pursue this work unless the work itself is the motivation. Knowing that you can get up in the morning and go into your studio because you need to see something is critical in a field where the external validation that most people receive for their jobs is mostly absent.

Steven Siegel's Website: StevenSiegel.Net


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