The Southwest is a place of open spaces and national forests. Many people come to the Southwest to experience nature and the many cultures that are still prevalent. There is a part of us today that seeks the wildness that is so easily forgotten in our contemporary lives of concrete, big buildings, and noisy cities. Whether it is the bugle of a bull elk echoing across the mountains, or the dramatic contrast of sky, landscape, and the colors of the desert, or the mix of culture in our cities; the southwest is vast, diverse, and beautiful. I (Joshua Tobey) hope to capture some of these things in my work.
Having lived in the Southwest all my life I (Joshua Tobey) have been heavily influenced by the Southwest art movement. Color, shape, and concept are the primary concerns of art in the Southwest. There is a huge amount of subject matter in the Southwest, including culture, wildlife, landscape, and history. It seems to me that I have an endless supply of subject matter all around me. I use a mixture of all these things in my sculpture. I enjoy sculpting images from my imagination that are influenced by my surroundings. I am an outdoorsman, and I often take many of my ideas from my experience with nature.
In my work I (Joshua Tobey) am examining the relationship between people and nature. I attempt to capture this relationship through a stylization of form and color. I try to depict the essence of an animal, a person, or an emotion. I try to show a descriptive aspect of nature and wildness, while invoking a feeling of the spirit. The portrayal of movement, or the intent to move is important to me. I use bright patinas to convey a sense of emotion, and the essence of the natural and dramatic landscape.
The natural world is a beautiful place to me. It is also a limitless source of ideas and subject matter. The connection between humans and nature is beautiful to me because it has always existed, especially here in the Southwest. I (Joshua Tobey) hope that my art invokes in you a feeling of connection with the wild.
If a child in a city grows up with a landscape of skyscrapers and neon signs, then I (Joshua Tobey) grew up with a landscape of bronze sculpture and brightly painted canvas. As a child, I was able to wander galleries packed with people and hung with art created by some of the premier artists in the world. At home, I watched my father and stepmother create art, a business, and a lifestyle. As I grew, I helped my father (Gene Tobey) run ceramic molds, mount bronze on marble, and polish silver. When I got my drivers license, I began to run such errands as delivering bronzes across the southwest.
In the Tobey household, nature is as much a part of life as art. Perhaps one would not exist without the other. As a result, I (Joshua Tobey) chose a college not only for its academic prowess, but also for its outdoor setting. Western State College of Gunnison, Co. is where I spent four years exploring mountains, rivers and went to school and finally decided to become an artist.
I (Joshua Tobey)chose sculpture as my emphasis because I so admired the bronze process, but mostly because it is my favorite art form. To me it is on a different level from all other art forms because of its physical interaction with everyone that sees it and touches it. The subject matter that I am currently exploring is a combination of figurative studies combined with wildlife. Because as apart as man is from nature, it is only in nature that I feel as if I am a part of something bigger than myself.
Joshua Tobey 
