Michael Klapthor

Michael Klapthor

Michael Klapthor has been a working and exhibiting artist in Georgia for the past ten years. He is currently enrolled in Callanwolde’s clay studio assistantship program, teaching classes and creating sculptures.

 

Klapthor mainly works in sculpture, creating what he dubs as whimsical, anthropomorphic sculptures. His works create stories about human nature. He makes these statements regarding human nature through the creation of sculptures depicting animals and their belongings. The animal and the material item accompanying it have to balance against each other, similar to the way we, as living in a modern society, must strive to find balance between basic instincts such as desire to protect or to own something to run free or to establish ties.

 

In a recent series of sculptures, Klapthor explores the notion of being tied or weighed down by material objects. The animals created are sluggish and their bodies look worn and tired, angry, or serene. Klapthor clearly uses the animals to portray human emotions. The object that rests on top of the animal resembles a human’s house or building that a person might use or occupy. Klapthor’s sculptures show the burden of modern living, materiality, and society and how that burden weighs down on the temperament of a being, whether it be an animal or a person.