LIMESTONE SCULPTURE SHOWING VISUAL FORCE

TINTED LIMESTONE WORKS   In 1976, Robin Antar suddenly made a startling discovery -that she was blind in one eye and had been since birth. This condition, retrolental fibroplasia, which she perceives as an extraordinary gift, not only affected her vision but also became an integral tool among the techniques she uses in her artistic process. Images are visualized from the inside out rather than the outside in, with the subject matter drawn from within her immediate line of vision. The interaction between her nose and cheekbone, for example, assumes magnified importance when seen at such close range.   Aesthetic beauty and superficial thought were not her concerns; she focused on fundamental feelings and basic sensations, resulting in sculptures with an uncommon perspective, jarring color, and anomalous form.   Antar plays with texture, ranging from gritty and abrasive to smooth and soft. By using a grid format, she creates shifting planes that abstract the subject matter and add depth