NelsonAfian wants to fill the gap. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, and trained in St. Petersburg, Russia,Afian is a sculptor of extraordinary ability in rendering people. And yet he isquick to add that he isn’t confined by a strict adherence to realism. “I add myown vision to any project I do,” he says. “My images might be realistic in formbut abstract in representation.”
Afianhas been visiting Milwaukee for the last couplemonths as the guest of local attorney Joe Seifert, who met him in Petersburg as an artstudent. He is also here because Milwaukeeis home to the world-acclaimed Vanguard Foundry a place where bronze sculptureis cast using advanced technology.
Afiandescribes a somewhat unusual situation in childhood and adolescence: his fathernot only was entirely supportive of his decision to become a professionalartist, but actively nudged him in that direction. Of course, it helped thatAfian came from a creative family. His uncles were numbered among the ranks ofpainters, poets and architects; his grandfather sculpted stone monuments. “Myfather understood that an artist can work through life and be happy makingbeautiful work,” he explains.
Stylistically,Afian covers much ground. Some of his work in bronze is gently Expressionistic.In a study for a sculpture of Moses parting the Red Sea,the prophet projects the fierce power of a Greek statue of Zeus while flankedby a pair of terraced waterfalls. His images in plaster convey a Wedgwoodsensibility that would have been at home adorning the palaces of St. Petersburg during thetime of the czars.
“Everybodyunderstands Americais a great country if you work hard, have talents and great ideas,” Afian says.“And there is a high level of technology available to sculptors here to createsomething interesting.”
