Represented Artist, Bill Mack,  at Milan Art Gallery in Downtown Fort Worth Texas

He has no mentors. There is nowhere to go to learn his art. No one teaches his technique. Sculptor Bill Mack works in such a rare art form that coming up with a name to describe it has been only slightly less arduous than creating the art itself.

 

"Calling my artwork bas-relief," Mack says, "is incorrect since bas-relief technically refers to low relief sculpture. My art, in fact, has more physical depth than high relief; it incorporates various elements in full-round rising toward the viewer as in my "Illusion" image where her leg leaves the background extending into space. Technically, sculptures combining various levels of relief and full-round parts are called 'Alto Relief' sculptures. A similar technique has been used on classic Roman and Greek buildings. However, until I offered my current collection of sculptures, this art form had not appeared to any extent in galleries." Combining low and high relief, incised lines, and elements in the full-round in sculpture works that are light enough to be hung on a wall, Mack directly involves the viewer in a 3-dimensional experience, both textural and tactile, that is often startling real.

 

"Mack's art elicits an immediate emotional response," notes one critic. "A moment in time is stopped, a familiar face revealed, the grace of a body in motion captured. The viewer becomes more than an observer; he becomes a participant in the drama unfolding before his eyes."

 

For over twenty years, Mack paid his dues, working mostly as a commissioned artist -- from miniature medallic works such as the Bicentennial medals for the State of Minnesota and the cities of St. Louis and Baltimore, to reliefs and full-round sculptures for corporations such as General Motors, Pillsbury, and 3M. Then, in the early 1980's, Mack made a venturous artistic move and entered the competitive gallery world with his Alto Relief' sculptures. Today, in the popular contemporary arts, he has developed a major following.