“What is lifecasting anyway?” That the question that I hear most often when I mention the type of art I produce. Since I respond to it so often I learned conserve my words – “ taking a mold from the human body is” is usually my abbreviated retort.  But in fact it is much more than that as lifecasting is one of the oldest art forms dating back to when Egyptian artisans used gypsum and linen or papyrus to make masks.  

One might as well ask what is photography and receive the simple answer that it is a method of reproducing an exact likeness of a three-dimensional object in two dimensions. It is the right answer, but far from an adequate one. The same is true for lifecasting – an art form often denigrated by artistic purists as nothing more than copying. However all one has to do is to view the works of John DeAndrea, Duane Hanson and George Segal the holy trinity of lifecasting artists and it most certainly would dispel that criticism.

What they would see is that lifecasting is more than simply taking a mold from the body. It is what the artist does with that mold – how he poses it, how he casts it, the story he tells with it that is completes the answer to what is lifecasting. In fact when properly executed lifecasting, like painting, dancing, playing an instrument or sculpting it is an art form all to itself.

Lifecasting is about craftsmanship – as much as it is with a cabinetmaker or a fine furniture designer. It is about technique – just as is with an accomplished painter. It is about dimensional visualization – just as in sculpting and in photography. For lifecasting is a blend of all these skill, the sculptor, the painter, the craftsman and the photographer.

To an amateur lifecaster the art is also about realistic preservation. It is a means of creating a long time memory of a relative or loved one. A baby’s hand, or the foot of a child in a ballet slipper, or a face, or the hands of two lovers are all very precious to the artist who creates them. It is different than a painting or a sculpture, as it has actually touched the person that it represents evoking more emotion and more sentiment than any other art form.

So perhaps the better definition of lifecasting is that art form by itself for  the artistic preservation of the memory of the model that is was molded from.