I think that the role of an artist throughout time has been to sum up the spirit of the culture that they are living in and the time they are living in and give physical manifestation of the philosophy and knowledge of the time, not necessarily limited to the philosophy and spirit of the specific artist but of the artist within his time period.
I would like my work to function independent of my time period, so that when my work is seen 500 years from now out of context, out of the art continuum or the museum lineage, that the images are archetypal and universal enough to be reintegrated into society in another form, such as the Easter Island heads or the pyramids of Egypt, or Stonehenge. They still function, not necessarily limited to the vision of the artist or the culture that they came from, although that does carry into the usage of it now, but if artists are working with long-standing images, then they will exist independent of the function that they were created.
Steve Tobin. Visual philosopher. Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. B.S., Tulane Univ.; research grant, Creative Glass Center of America; guest artist, Seguso Vitre de Arte Glass Factory, Venice; instructor Tokyo Glass School. Selected exhibitions include Los Angeles and New York Museums of Natural History; Carpe Diem Gallery, Paris; Retretti Art Center, Finland; Gallery 10, NYC; Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia. Among permanent collections are American Craft Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, American Glass Museum, and Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Switzerland.
