Michael Binkley

Artist Statement
“I want to reconnect individuals to their primal instinct of touch. The sensory experience of touch is quickly de-programmed in most of us during childhood. ‘Don’t touch’ is a phrase often spoken to a child during formative years, and we learn that it is almost taboo to touch objects. This imposed societal constraint pushes our desire to touch to a deep place within us and sculpture is one means to resurface that instinct. Stone sculpture is the oldest art form known to Man and if I can entice a viewer to want to touch one of my sculptures, I feel I have succeeded in making a good art work.
When carving sculpture, I try to pay as much attention to the finishing of the piece as I do to the design – different textures are integral to the piece itself, as it supports my desire to have people touch my work as part of their interaction with a particular piece.
In our contemporary world of ‘conceptual art’ as popular art form, I believe there is a missing piece that dismisses line and form, positive and negative space and composition of a discrete sculpture, which I feel is truly valuable in aiding an individual’s interaction with art through touch.”