Paul Hopmeier

Paul Hopmeier has been exhibiting sculpture in Sydney for over 30 years. Recently he has explored an elusive aesthetic quality linking objects across human history. His sculptures, inspired by works of art going back over three millennia, grapple with the physical matter of this quality and its production, as well as its possibility in contemporary sculpture.

"Design is the complete opposite of sculpture. Design is precise, planned and resolved, whereas a sculpture is quite unpredictable. Making sculpture involves continuous feedback, where the processes of looking, thinking and doing are all contributing to the end result in an unconstrained and spontaneous way. The brain thinks but the hand doesn’t necessarily do what the brain tells it to do, so the result of any one action is unpredictable and must be entered into the feedback loop before the next decision is made and so on. The whole process must be in balance though, the brain should not dominate the hand or vice versa; what is needed is a natural technique, one that will open up more and more possibilities.' Paul Hopmeier "Brains have been described as random idea generators with an editing function to remove the absurd. Invention is the random idea generator and some must be more fertile than others. Is the level of fertility a function of experience or does experience make the editing more savage? In fact invention and creation should both be best when edit free." Paul Hopmeier

To read this interview with Paul Hopmeier by Harvey Shields in full, visit www.seriousart.org