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Larry
Pogue has been doing metal sculpture for over a quarter of a
century. As a young boy Pogue built tree houses in every available
tree on his family's farm. Pogue was born and raised in St. Louis,
MO and moved around the mid-west until he married and settled in
Washington, MO. Here he taught sculpture in college for 28 years,
and in 1997 Pogue took early retirement to do sculpture full time.
Pogue says that if he would have had the opportunity to choose the
kind of art to make, it probably would have been painting. But, he
says, "I had no choice, SCULPTURE chose me. I enjoy building
things. Doing sculpture is like fighting bulls; it is a very
arduous discipline which takes a lot of physical strength. Maybe
this is what attracts me to the metal."
He
also says that when one does a two dimensional (painting) piece of
art, that it's just an illusion. "When I build a metal
sculpture, it exists. "Several times Pogue has had blind
people ask to look at his sculptures. He says that brings a smile
to his face to see them react by feeling his works of art.
When
you ask Pogue to explain his sculpture, you will probably get a
different answer every time. He says his ideas are always changing
and this, he says, is good. " I really force change to keep
my sculpture new and vibrant, he states. "His ideas change
with his life experiences and his maturity.
Pogue received his Masters of Art in sculpture at Pittsburg State
University in 1968 where he was first introduced to sculpture and
many other professional artists through his research. He says that
David Smith (1906-1965), an abstract expressionist metal sculptor,
was probably his greatest influence and there were many others,
such as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Michelangelo and others.
Now
to the process of making metal sculpture, more specific, stainless
steel metal sculpture in which he specializes. " I like the
permanence of this medium (material), because, when I finish my
sculpture, it remains just the same way-forever, Pogue
comments."
Pogue gets his ideas from life experiences and mostly by doing his
sculptures. In this sense Pogue is a purest. "When I do one
sculpture, it gives me ten more ideas for my next
sculptures." He prefers to work on more than one piece at a
time to keep the ideas flowing. When asked what is the best
sculpture he has ever made, he says, "That's easy to
answer-my next!"
Although he has sculptures in private collections from New York to
California and Chicago to New Orleans, he prefers to make
sculpture for the mid-west region because of the transportation,
logistics and installation.
Pogue's furthest piece is located in Zurich, Switzerland where he
made a sculpture for Consolidated Aluminum's president as a
retirement gift. He has made a sculpture for the Governor of
Missouri (Hawthorn Society), which was given to the General Motors
Corporation for locating in Missouri.
"All I can say is that sculpture has been very good to me,
and I appreciate the challenge of matching my wit against the
sculptural ideas. I don't like to solve all the problems for my
viewers . If everyone sees something different when they look at
my sculpture then I have captured some of their imagination."
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