John Okulick was born in New York City in 1947. He received a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.F.A. from the University of California at Irvine. He resides in southern California.

During the past four years, John Okulick has worked on numerous public commissions, most of them in metal for outdoor installation. He has created free-standing grand scale sculptures, metalwork design on buildings, gateways and monumental, sculptural fences. In his last gallery exhibition, Okulick was moving away from exclusive use of wood--his signature material--toward metal as a structural anchor for his wall sculptures. Now his sculpture in metal shares center stage with his sculpture in wood.

New forms and shapes enliven the artist’s daring recent pieces. Pushing his vocabulary of trompe l’oeil and illusion to a new arena, the sculptures have movement, energy, dynamism and a sense of play. Okulick often defies the inherent nature of his materials, blending or twisting a material for sculptural impact. And impact is the word that best describes John Okulick’s new abstract work.

The artist writes: “My sculpture is a platform from which the viewer can take a ride. That ride can be a flight of fancy or a journey through a vast open space, toward a feeling of freedom. Layers in my sculpture create visual density evoking the physical layers that surround us. There are references to buildings, automobiles, machines, time and movement; elements of society that refer in an abstract way to current events.

The artist’s resin pieces are brand-new, related to the wall pieces in their illusionistic reference to and casting of sticks. Okulick dives into the use of bright, almost outrageous color, creating a palette for the resin works unto itself. These pieces are the first works by the sculptor to reflect his feelings for the political climate in this country. In “Nowhere to Hide,” two innocent deer stand in the midst of a felled forest with no safe place to venture. The title gives the viewer the opportunity to “read” the artist’s meaning while looking upon the tender and beautiful, yet poignant piece, vibrating with gold, pink and black colors.