© Arlene Love, *Cruciform*, polyester resin and fiberglass, 1973

November 16, 2022

Amie Potsic interviews Arlene Love, an award-winning pioneer in resin sculpture and accomplished draftswoman and photographer.

© Arlene Love with *Rosey Crucifiction* & *Backroom Abortion,* 1972

Arlene Love is an award-winning pioneer in resin sculpture and accomplished draftswoman and photographer with numerous public art installations. For forty years, Love focused on sculpture, with solo shows from New York to California. Her work has been included in juried exhibitions in the Museum of Modern Art (NY), Boston Museum of Art, Sculpture Center (NYC), Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Cornell University, among others. Love’s sculpture is in the collections of The Philadelphia Museum of Art, James A Michener Museum, the University of Scranton and Franklin & Marshall College. In Philadelphia, her bronze Winged Woman is in the garden of the Dorchester facing Rittenhouse Square. Eight Figures, life size bronzes reside permanently in the Kimmel Center. The gold leafed Face Fragment is in front of the Monell Chemical Senses Center at 3500 Market Street.

Love’s focus began shifting toward drawing during the dozen years she and her husband lived in a tiny mountain village near the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Her drawings, etchings and encaustics were exhibited in Oaxaca galleries and in exhibitions of Oaxaca artists. While in Oaxaca, she also worked in a print taller and created a portfolio of etchings which is in the Linda Lee Alter Collection at PAFA.

Artist Statement
My work, regardless of medium has always focused on depiction of the human image. The only exceptions are my series of drawings of the bullfight 1989-1997. This ritual of life and death with honor had fascinated me for decades. Most of the drawings show the bull as victor, even though we know the bull must die. Both the bull and the man will die - the bull within twenty minutes. The man - sooner or later.

From the Venus of Willendorf to the photographic image, I feel that the vehicle of expression most immediate and most compelling is the image of a human being. It is the image that expresses the most profound and basic emotions. It speaks back to us of our own vulnerability and humanity.

Arlene Love

© Arlene Love, *Eight of Ten Heads,* wall mounted, 1986-87

Click here to view Arlene Love's collection and full art history profile.

Banner Image: © Arlene Love, Five Figures in Black, polyester resin and fiberglass, 33” h, 1977
Courtesy of the artist.