Oleg Lobykin
Oleg Lobykin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1966 and is a sculptor. Lobykin has roots in the tradition of stone carving, an old world craft, but considers himself an international man and a product of globalization. Today, he uses modern tools and technology with a contemporary language based on his life in Silicon Valley.
Lobykin exhibits in the San Francisco Bay Area and has completed a number of projects in New York, Los Angeles, and Japan. Clients have included Stanford University, The Presidio Trust, the city of Cupertino, the city of San Jose, Cathedral Stoneworks Inc., The Denver Public Library, Yale University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cathedral Church St. John the Divine, The Jewish Museum in NYC, Alabama Limestone Co., and Artists and Architects.
Firebird is one of Oleg's most recent creations. His work has evolved from his training in classical sculpture through a search for a metamorphosis of form into a growing fascination with organic, abstract shapes. Firebird re-imagines the arising of life from the molecular level as something new begins to emerge from an almost chaotic "cellular soup" of bubble-like shapes as a mystery of transformation. His work expresses a vocabulary that translates his interest in streamlined arcs and curves, free lines, metamorphic sub-structures, and sensations of light and levitation.
Diversity is a series of abstract, organically shaped, and brightly colored sculptures that are reminiscent of totems. They appear to flow upward like bubbles in seltzer, drawing attention to both positive and negative space. Made of composite materials and fiberglass, they are durable yet lightweight. The pieces are a conceptual representation of a new visual form that we may begin to see more often as 3-D printers, scanners, computers and other technology can affect future art-making processes specifically in sculpture and 3-dimensional objects. It’s a search for the roots of form and its basic elements, which can combine to create any complex shape.