Empowering Artists

Sebastian Martorana talks about his work as a stone sculptor. Often considered memorial makers, stone sculptors face a common issue of viewers not being able to see past the difficulty of the material to the concept of the work. In this episode Sebastian gives a great analogy to understand the different types of stone by comparing them to photography (around 5mins). The artist talks about his training, the perceptions of the discipline of stone carving as very traditional, rather than contemporary art. We talk about process in particular modern technology such as CNC machines which he doesn't use, preferring a hammer and chisel every time. He then goes on to talk about Permanent Separation Anxiety, a powerful work he made earlier in 2018 which comments on the child/ parent separation at the US borders. He uses this piece to memorialise current issues in the political climate, made contemporaneously rather than commenting on issues of the past, which is typical of stone sculpture. You can see the art work her