Gregory Vernitsky

Artist Statement

I first started painting years ago, in Odessa, Ukraine; later, I turned to experimenting with clay and wood carving.  These works were mostly realistic; I was doing it for self-expression, just love this feeling of creating something new.

After moving to San Francisco in 1991, my works became more abstract and organic; I started using found materials - driftwood, burls, or tree limbs. If a piece of wood can wake up imagination, or just possesses an undefined promise, it can be made into sculpture. I usually let wood lay idle for a while - until I can see what it might become. Then I start carving and cutting it to reveal hidden structure, movement, or emotion, until the sculpture is able to occupy and hold space.

I was always interested in the way time, scale and narrative are reflected in sculpture.

In some of sculptures I tried to make small pieces fill monumental and static.
In other works, time is the subject - its passing, its stillness, and the stress of waiting for something to happens.  My goal is to tell a story with the bare minimum of details and to stimulate a viewer’s imagination without forcing an agenda. 
In other, more abstract sculptures, it was structure, movement, gesture, or mood which I tried to express. 

I often use found objects to add historical context, or to do the opposite - to break common line of associations.