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Three buildings and a sandwich

It was Chicago, it was lunchtime, it was sunny, I was hungry.

I left work at a big ad agency and took a walk up beautiful Oak Street, looking for a tuna sandwich. But then I happened across three white buildings shoulder-to-shoulder and realized the only reason I could tell them apart was thanks to the shadows that lay between.

I stopped, stared, walked back and forth, knocked out by the profound exchange of light to dark where the shadows lived. That moment became the muse for my career as an artist.

I rushed back to my office and began to cut through layers of paper, trying to find the shadows hiding inside. And I've been carving new shadows into paper and metal sculptures ever since.

The spark of inspiration

Working in the city I was acutely aware of the power of public art ~ The Picasso, the Miro, Calders, Boteros and more recently Anish Kapour’s Cloud Gate, reflecting the city around it.

I knew I had to be a part of that world of large and public sculpture, so began to transform my paper sculpture into works of greater size, energy and vitality.

Today William Freer creates delicate, thoughtful paper sculptures plus compelling works in steel and bronze ~ sculptures that are inviting, involving, asking to be touched.




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