Artist Portfolio Magazine’s 10 Art Competition

Marilyn Richeda – South Salem, NY

My creative process is based on the exploration of the subconscious. As a self-taught sculptor, I explore my own subconscious mind while working intuitively from feelings, memories and my imagination. I am interested in body language, relationships and the state of mind of the individual. I usually work in a series which can lead me into years of exploration of an idea and form. I enjoy this part of the process. Although my figures are pared-down minimalist in outside appearance, I mean for them to have complicated and subtle inner lives. For me, they carry the heavy weight of emotional fragility. I scratch and scar the clay both literally and metaphorically to capture the essence of these figures. They are simultaneously grotesque, beautiful, repulsive and mesmerizing. The figures I create, some creepy and dark, are not to be found on the street, but rather in one’s imagination or dreams. The combination of strangeness and familiarity reveal human concerns and behaviors such as feelings of fear, loss, helplessness and isolation. Wondering how to live in the world with others…this is my way of speaking through my art, my way of being in the world.