Mark Sauerhoff

My work is an attempt to address things that aren’t easy to address, a by-product of a state of mind. The only way to bring it all together is by thinking of each element as a different part of me. It’s not that I have a vision. I don’t always know where I’m going when I do a piece, but I always know when I’ve gotten there. It’s a precarious process of balance and tension, and it doesn’t always work, but sometimes it does. I don’t think you become an artist by being a happy-go-lucky guy; it comes out of a certain level of pain.

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I’m a believer in the necessity of art as a basic human need and as an expression of who we are. We’ve been wired to make and appreciate art since prehistoric times. It’s allowed us to communicate through the ages. There are few limits to where you will find it, and there are no limits when creating it. Some adds more beauty to the world, while other art may not be beautiful, but it means we are alive. It takes the viewer places they haven’t been before, or maybe they were afraid to go. It does things in a new way — allows people to connect to it, and expresses something maybe they didn’t know they felt.

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Most of my pieces rely on pitting something simple against something a little more complex and dangerous. I want the piece to be tipping over in the chair, the head to be balanced. It creates a sense of danger. It’s risky.

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My art is not pristine. It is more human, formidable and fragile, evolving in character, susceptible to decay. I don’t care if it gets bumped or scratched. It’s a part of me. And it’s there to start a conversation. That is what I’d like to do with it, simply start a conversation.