Tell us about your artistic inspirations – what gave you the “bug” and who were the creators who you admired?
I think because I’m an avid reader and I listen to so many audiobooks while I work, I find most of my inspiration comes from literary sources. Every project I do goes through some dark hours – times when I’m struggling with the engineering (how to split it up for production overseas), times when I just can’t “see” the piece objectively anymore or can’t seem to get the feel I want out of a pose. I find that the characters in many of the books I read inspire me to stay calm and push through. My recent favorites in this vein are the true stories “Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea” and “Shadow Divers”.
As far as artistic inspiration, since all of my work is of a commercial nature, the parameters of each project are usually very specific; there usually isn’t a whole lot of room for artistic license. That said, I really enjoy sculpting real people- especially in action poses. I have found some commonalties with the work of Frederick Remington and because I start out with a sketchy, loose style, I also feel a resonance with the charcoal studies of Edwin Austin Abbey and the pen and inks of Heinrich Kley. There are sculptures I would like to do for myself but because I’ve been booked solid since I began, I haven’t had the chance to get to them yet (sculpting on a day off would be a bit of a busman’s holiday). Lately, when I do get the opportunity to create something of a personal nature, my inclination leans toward writing and abstract encaustic art.
As for what gave me the “bug”- I grew up in an artistic family and have been creating as long as I can remember. Art is in my blood. After highschool, and a brief stint in college, I was living in Brooklyn looking for temp work; I had done every awful factory job imaginable. I had worked swing shift in a thermo-forming department at an industrial waste liner company, assembled medical equipment, picked and packed in an electronics factory, in a sail-cloth factory and so on.
One of my sister’s friends was leaving his job at a commercial sculpture studio; my sister suggested I apply. The owner of the studio, Howard Kalish, hired me though I had no portfolio- and in fact, no proof whatsoever that I could create anything with my hands. He just went on the word of my sister’s friend. After working there for a year, I moved back to Providence and found work as a model-maker. I worked at various Prototype shops and built up my portfolio; mainly cartoon characters and kids’ toys for companies like Fisher Price and Hasbro. The work was steady, but boring. I was itching to try something more challenging.
It was then that I met Pat Mahoney, a phenomenally talented figure sculptor living here in Providence and freelancing for McFarlane toys. Pat and I worked together for just over a year and I felt like I’d found my calling. For the first time, I was sculpting human figures and I discovered I had a real knack for it. We worked in Castiline, a wax-like material that was very hard to use (It was this experience with a difficult material that got me thinking about trying to create my own). Quitting my steady job and starting a business that was almost completely foreign to me was a giant leap of faith, but I’ve always been a bit of a risk-taker and the challenge excited me. It’s been seven years now and I’ve continued to grow, both as a sculptor and as a business man.
What’s your earliest memory of “creating”?
Hmm… that’s a tough one. I think I’ve been drawing from as soon as I could hold a pencil. Masking tape, glue and cardboard were always my favorite toys. I do remember making a coil-pot in school.. it’s not my earliest memory of creating, but it stands out. I was perhaps eight at the time. The pot was in the shape of a skull, with eye sockets and everything. It even had zygomatic arches. At the time, my mother was studying to be a doctor, so I knew a good deal more anatomy than your average eight year old!
Can you take us through the process of sculpting a “likeness”.
I don’t really have a process per se, but I’ll try to run through it. Since 99 percent of the portraits I do are of celebrities, I begin by surrounding myself with pictures of the subject culled from the internet and movie stills. I try to find at least one good profile shot and some good three-quarter shots as well as one that I will use as the main portrait reference, especially if there is to be an expression on the likeness. Then I form a handful of CX5 into a very rough kind of egg/ head shape of the correct size for the project. Then…um, well to be honest, I just kind of dig in and start pushing it around. No real rhyme or reason to it and I never start the same way twice. I don’t measure anything; I just kind of feel my way through portraits. I usually turn on an audio book and the sculptor in me starts moving my hands while the rest of me is more or less free to just enjoy the book. It really feels like that- like I’m more of a spectator than an active participant. Eventually, the lump begins to resemble the subject. The longer I sit, the more refined the face becomes. When it feels like it has some life in it and captures what I think is the spirit of the subject, I’m just about done. The rest is just refining.
We’re very impressed that you have created your own sculpting material CX5, can you tell us A: what were the restrictions with existing materials that drove to create your own? And B: How did you go about creating your own?
CX5 stands for Compound X, generation 5 and it got its start the way many inventions do- someone is dissatisfied with the current options and has an idea that fits the need better. In this case, I was frustrated with inferior materials available to commercial sculptors, materials intended specifically for creating action figures, toys and so on. I could clearly envision the properties I wanted a material to have and set about experimenting. Many of the properties I desired were at chemical or physical odds with each other. After a fair amount of research and many, many experiments Compound X was born. I’ve tweaked the formula to where it now is and I feel I’ve got the ideal sculpting material. It can be sculpted like clay when warm, brushed on when hot, poured into molds, carved, sanded and polished when cool. It needs no armature regardless of the size of the piece; it can be re-melted and re-used indefinitely. It is creamy and smooth to work with and it sticks to itself but not to my hands. I’m very happy with the material!
Can you tell us the current state of play as regards the availability of CX5?
CX5 is under wraps while I’m interviewing investors and settling production. Anyone who is interested in purchasing some can email me and I will add them to the database. When I’m ready to unveil CX5 to the public, I will send out a mass-email notification.
You can see more of Adam’s work on his site – www.adambeane.com
