About the Artist

Artist Statement


My work explores the influence of landscape on the individual by addressing the power of certain forms found in nature to evoke memory, emotion and anthropomorphic physicality. Some of the works celebrate the poetic; others question our increasingly dysfunctional relationship to the natural world. Recurring symbols such as; the boat, the cultivated forest and the shoe-box house reference the struggles of the human psyche. Nature is perceived as a mirror- not only of our own physical form, but of our relationship with our inner selves.


Resumé
 
Influences

A partial list of artists who have influenced my development and continue to inspire me includes: Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, Martin Puryear, Jackie Winsor, Julio Gonzalez, David Smith, David Nash, Richard Long, Emmett Gowin, Bruce Nauman, Donald Judd(more for his furniture), Rachel Whiteread and Louise Bougeois.
 
Bio

Rob Licht (pronounced 'light') is a native of the small town of Trumansburg in the heart of the Fingerlakes region of Upstate New York. His interest in art and design began at an early age under the influence of his father who was an architect and watercolorist.His formal training in art includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1984 from Maine College of Art (formerly Portland School of Art) and the Master of Fine Arts degree from Cornell University in 1986.

He has maintained a studio in the Ithaca area continuously since 1988. His primary medium is welded steel; he also works in wood, cement, cast bronze and other materials as well as drawing and etching. His sculptures range in scale from small pedestal pieces to large outdoor works. In between creating art or teaching he has worked in the building trades including; sign painting, house painting, masonry, ornamental plaster, carpentry, woodworking and welding. In 1996 he began to build saunas and more recently began to focus almost entirely on applied design projects such as furniture, interior design and logo development.


Licht has exhibited his sculpture and drawings throughout the Northeast with past gallery representation in Philadelphia. He has won several grants and awards and has been director of the State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca. He has taught sculpture, drawing and design at Ithaca College, Metal Sculpture to adult education students, at the Maine College of Art Summer program and at Cornell. He has been a visiting artist at several colleges and many local grade schools.
He was a competitive Nordic skier and distance runner during his high school and college years and is still an active runner, biker, and Nordic skier as well as an avid backpacker and canoeist. He is a founding member of the Ithaca Triathlon Club and was the assistant race director of the Cayuga Lake Triathlon for the past several years.