American-born Bill Mack is the world's only artist working exclusively in the unique art form known as "Alto-Relief sculpture". His extraordinary works hang in prestigious galleries and on the walls of celebrities, sports personalities, politicians and business leaders worldwide. Born in 1944 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to a family which had never had a member directly involved in art, Mack was already creating and selling oil portraits in high school. "The Nation's Business Today" reported that "Bill Mack has become one of the most successful artists living today" with his revival of "Alto-Relief" which had disappeared during the Great Depression. The creation of relief sculpture, as Bill Mack does it, is a unique blend of art, science and technology. After the conceptual stage, Mack creates a full-size finished sketch or painting of the subject. Once the rendering is complete, he sculpts the original model in clay. He then creates the mould. In the casting process, the original sculpture is destroyed, making each of the limited edition sculptures of equal value. Each relief sculpture, many of them life-size, must be durable and light enough to hang on a wall. To meet these requirements Mack has created two totally unique materials, both of which preserve the elegant detail of his work and enhance the impact of the sculptures. For his "Bonded sand" finishes, Mack melds a fine, soft white sand with resin. A second bonding of 100% sand is later applied to the finished surface. The use of delicate hour glass-type sand in the bonding process gives the sculptures their beautiful, incredibly fine textured surface. For his "Bonded Bronze" sculptures, Mack uses a material consisting primarily of finely-ground bronze, again with resin as a bonder. In the inverted mould, the heavier bronze particles migrate through the resin resulting in a high-density of bronze on the surface of the sculpture. With his trademark red rose in his lapel, the mustachioed Mack continues to sell his exquisite pieces as fast as they can be produced in his studio in Minneapolis. During Mikhail Gorbachev's historic visit to the United States in 1990, a Bill Mack sculpture of the American Eagle was presented to the then-Soviet leader to commemorate the event. This same America Eagle was also presented to Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Notable collectors of Bill Mack sculptures include President Bill Clinton and former US presidents, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan as well as actors Sylvestor Stallone, Sharon Stone, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Redford and Tony Curtis. Mack's family is very much involved in his art with much of the figure in his figurative work supplied courtesy of his wife, Deborah. "The process is so time consuming that only a willing and dedicated partner has the patience for the long modelling sessions," he explains. Without doubt, Bill Mack's creations are strikingly unique in the world of art. In or out of his studio, Mack is an unusual man and artist, influencing today's contemporary world of art. Artworks by Bill Mack |
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