Myron Helfgott

At art6 Nov. 7 through Nov. 30, 2008

Myron Helfgott received his BA and MFA degrees from Southern Illinois University and studied with R. Buckminster Fuller from 1957-59 and in 1962. From 1968 until 2003, he was a professor in the department of sculpture and extended media at Virginia Commonwealth University and served as acting chair from 2001 to 2003. He has had numerous one-man exhibitions throughout the United States and has participated in over 50 group shows.

His work is in both public and private collections, including the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Corcoran Museum of Art, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Best Products Foundation, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Among his many residencies are the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris from 2003 to 2007.

Read more about Myron Helfgott: "What Women Have Told Me" – A Commentary by Professor Howard Risatti

Artist's statement

The structure of the work I have been making in recent years has been influenced by literature, film, and architecture. With the use of audio devices, photos, and traditional sculptural materials I have attempted to address such diverse subjects as the self-portrait, landscape painting, cultural and aesthetic questions, and gender and age transformation. The major influences for these works are literary.

In addition to the literary structure, I have included criticism of the work within the body of the work as has Vladimir Nabokov, Federico Fellini, and Philip Roth. I see the work as a symbiotic relationship of diverse elements. Trying to harness the diverse content and materials in these sculptures is like trying to organize debris at a picnic on a windy day.