Artist Statement

Richard Binder is a metal sculptor who spent more than 40 years caring for patients as a medical oncologist. He has now undergone a metamorphosis from caring to creating. Although this seems to be a huge leap, it actually represents an evolution-transformation that began as a youth when he drew and sketched in pencil and charcoal. From Engineering School where he learned how to fabricate working manufacturing models from metals by cutting, brazing and welding, he moved to a medical career. The demands of medicine were such that he had little time to create art, but he became an avid appreciator of the arts, as well as a collector of Native American art.

When it came time to consider leaving the ‘caring’ field, he decided to express himself in a different fashion – ‘creating.’ With some classes at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington and the Yellow Barn at Glen Echo National Park, he moved forward and starting creating abstract metal sculptures.

Working in both mild and stainless steel, he is now creating metal sculptures for placement both outdoors and indoors. The process begins with his mental vision of a shape, a form or a structure. This initial concept is then put to paper in the form of a drawing or a sketch, often done in perspective, followed by his creating a small-scale model as a guide for fabricating the final work. The final step in the process involves cutting the steel into appropriate sizes and shapes, welding them together, grinding down the welds and then painting or polishing the work depending on the material used. Each piece takes many hundreds of hours to go from the initial workings to the final product. The geometry, the symmetry, the asymmetry, the negative space, as well as the size of his outdoor sculptures create a dramatic and satisfying experience. His indoor pieces, using similar techniques, express the same dynamic feel and are meant to make one feel at ease with the bold geometry with its angles, curves, volumes and sense of motion.