Throughout time, sculptors have sought to produce works that are as permanent as possible, working with materials such as bronze and stone: marble, limestone, porphyry and granite as well as gold, silver and ivory. Less expensive materials are used as well for sculpture for wider consumption, including steel, glass, hardwoods, terracotta and other ceramics, plaster, and cast metals such as pewter, aluminum and zinc.
Some sculpture, often referred to as ephemeral, such as ice sculpture, sand sculpture, sculpture using sticks and leaves and gas sculpture is, by design, short-lived. Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. After Marcel Duchamp exhibited a urinal (one of his most famous “ready-mades”) in 1917 at a New York salon, everyday objects became accepted materials for sculpture.
With the advent of new technologies, many different materials are now used in sculpture, sometimes in conjunction with each other, in what is called Mixed Media or, for the works including video or sound, New Media. Yet, sculptors are also still using cast bronze and terracotta, in much the same way as they have for millennia. Today, when selecting a material for a sculpture, collectors have to take into consideration longevity, maintenance issues, but also desired effect and location (an outdoor sculpture in Canada does not allow as many possibilities for material as an indoor piece in a dry, temperate climate.)
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