Kreg Harrison sculpts Virgilijus Alekna (© Getty Images)
Given that they are two human pursuits which command so much passion and enthusiasm it is strangely very rare for artistic and sporting endeavour to combine either very frequently or effectively in any natural or complementary fusion. It is therefore refreshing to find a sculptor H. Kreg Harrison, has made it his mission to breath life into sports’ art.
On Sunday 14 September, Hestrie Cloete (RSA) and Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) were announced as World Athletes of the Year at the International Athletic Foundation Gala, the prestigious annual worldwide television spectacular, hosted this year at the Grimaldi Forum by IAAF and IAF President Lamine Diack, in the presence of IAF Honorary President HSH Crown Prince Albert of Monaco.
During the presentation which accompanied the announcement the double World High Jump gold medallist and quadruple World 1500m champion each received a bronze statue of an athlete with raised arms breasting an imaginary finish line tape in victory.
Though the gifts were of cold bronze, there was nothing lifeless in the vibrancy of work which Cloete and El Guerrouj clutched in their arms that evening. The statues were the work of Harrison who, as well as these commissions had brought with him to Monaco an array of other athletics sculptures to exhibit.
Worldwide there are of course other great examples of Athletics sculpture. Wäinö Aaltonen’s famous statue of Paavo Nurmi outside the Olympic stadium in Helsinki and the many exhibits within the Olympic museum’s sculpture park in Lausanne come readily to mind. When any sports sculpture pleases the eye they do so because they have captured the graceful motion or fluidity of the athlete, and that is the central cord to Harrison’s work too.
Kreg Harrison a 40 year-old born in Ogden, Utah, USA, is a BFA Hons graduate from Brigham Young University, who has sought artistic inspiration from animal, hunting and sports’ scenes throughout his career.
A Mormon, married with his wife Brooke and their family of five daughters and a son, Harrison is a passionate exponent of his art, a man with a comprehensive grounding in anatomy who aspires to Degas’ vision where the beauty of human movement is captured.
Having been a member of three Utah State school championship winning teams in Basketball and Track and Field athletics (a 48 second 400m runner), and having also competed in baseball and American football, Harrison has an understanding of sport’s physicality.
“I was a basketball point guard and a wide receiver in football with 4:4 speed,” confirms Harrison. “Many artists have also done sports like me but you can immediately spot those haven’t, as the action and the movement is missing.”
“In any games you watch there is always one player or athlete who has a natural god given gift which sets him or her apart from the others however talented they are, and it is my aim to capture that gift.”
As he speaks Harrison is sculpting the throwing action of Lithuania’s World and Olympic champion Discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna, who at 2 metres in height stands like a colossus in front of us, patiently repeating his body swing continuously for the benefit of Harrison’s art.
“Here is an example of that gift. Alekna’s movement is like silk, a controlled explosion of athletic power. The top of his body is grace and fluidity.”
“My eyes are more important than my hands. I have studied film of competition for hours on end and once it’s in my head I translate it to my hands, the feeling, the thrust, the opposing forces which make up any human movement.”
”I sketch that movement in clay. I find a point in the movement which best exemplifies the aesthetic grace, capture it in my mind and then let my hands respond. I deal with more than measurements, mine is a responsive art.”
“At best I want to work in the sports arena itself during competition. On the side of the pit I have sketched in clay a long jump bronze in little more than 35 minutes. I needed to have the sand hit my face as the jumper lands, to witness the drip of the athlete’s sweat and his breath.”
“It is the same feeling as you get when competing yourself, and it’s this my sculptures embody.”
IAAF
