Tricia Cline is self-taught. She has been a professional sculpture since 1984. Her most recent series, Exiles in Lower Utopia, is an ode to animal instinct.
Cline described animals as being intrinsically complete and self-contained in their physical form. When a wolf runs at full speed, for example, a distinct scent or sound may all of a sudden alter its direction. ‘Its legs, nose, and ears are its function, or bliss.’
Equally, when an animal recognizes another animal it reads with an instinctual eye the character in the form. Through this clever analogy, Cline likens the language of animals is the language of images.
Her Exiles series aims to reveal our own perceptive abilities. It is an appeal to venture beyond our limited concepts of identity to a vaster awareness. ‘Exiles have succeeded by virtue of being,’ says Cline.