Hib Sabin Works
New Mexico sculptor, Hib Sabin, creates masks, spirit sticks, amulets, spirit bowls, and boats, often incorporating wolves, owls, ravens, bears, coyotes and eagles into his art pieces. His painted wood carvings and the bronzes derived from them, are not only distinct and original, they inspire a conversation between the artist and collector.
Hib has spent decades developing a personal lexicon of meaning within his work. Legends and mythology, shamanism and animism, literature and psychology; it has all gone into the mix and has been distilled into an ineffable feeling that permeates each sculpture. Sabin’s characters live in liminalities: the hazy time between awareness and sleep; the unknown that yawns between life and afterlife; intertwining of human rationality and animal instinct. His more humanoid characters don shapeless coats and cloaks , disguising their forms and letting them slip between spaces, eluding certainty and cultivating mystery. Dream logic runs rampant here: of course, the figure poling a boat down a river would have a human body and a raven’s head and feet, what other form could the boatman take? By melding many mythological traditions and characters from around the world, Sabin taps into a kind of meta-myth. Where the idea of “raven” might mean a trickster in some cultures, a creator in others, and a symbol of death elsewhere, in Sabin’s potent context it emerges as all three.
Sabin has traveled the world extensively, exploring various cultures’ religions, stories, traditions and arts. Now in his 80’s, he combines his personal experiences and thoughts with those elements and what he produces are spectacular amalgamations.
Hib Sabin has had twelve one-man exhibitions during his years as a practicing artist. He is currently represented by galleries in Connecticut, Colorado, Vermont, New Mexico, New York, Washington, Arizona, and Mockingbird Gallery in Bend, Oregon.
Hib Sabin Interview - September 12, 2020
Hib Sabin was here at the gallery on October 6, 2022 and discussed his inspiration adn meanings behind some of his wonderful sculptures! The video is in two parts, sorry for the small segment that is missing between the video, technicaly difficulties with the recording. We hope you enjoy as much as we did!
Hib Sabin Artist Talk Oct 6, 2022, video 1
Hib Sabin Artist Talk Oct 6, 2022, video 2