The studio is a place where time stands still. A feeling of solitude is very strong within the walls of the studio space. The rest of the world is very distant. When I am working, the only link I have with the world is a link through memory. The work I make in the studio stems from creativity charged by memories connected to experiences and observations. I work with ceramics as a reflection of my interest in the perplexities of imagination and transformation. I am engaged in establishing or revealing a state of absoluteness. The word absolute is defined as: perfect, complete, pure, not limited, not doubted, "real."

My intention is that the viewer intuits a feeling of absoluteness from my sculpture as well. The work raises more questions than answers. Of course, the objects I make exist simply because they do. However, can these objects transform as I create different situations for them? With this question in mind, I start thinking about the exploration of materials as well as symbolism. I begin to look at my work with a new perspective. I physically take the work out the studio and into an empty space. At that point, there is a chance for the work to establish a new or added meaning as the objects take on a symbolic role in relation to each other and the space they inhabit. I act on feeling more than knowing. There is a mystery in what I feel that does not need to be resolved but needs to be expressed.

Juan Miguel Santiago