Bob Keating's is an American contemporary artist widely known and recognized for his sculptures, in both small scale and large exterior installations. Keating's work is primarily based around his use and interpretations of the elements, and has this to say about his process and material choice:
"These are the four elements that commonly are used in my sculpture making; gravity, steel, concrete and quartz stone.
Gravity I make sculpture that is by design in possession of the awareness of gravity. I’m aware of it and it’s important to me. The sculptures are rooted in gravity and not in any particular place; in other words their comfortable where there’s gravity.
Steel I use it consistently. The way I bend it and form it is how I speak. The steel will hold my voice whatever I do with it. Even if the steel is covered with concrete it is still holding hands with it.
Concrete, Concrete is a material with an ancient human past and when mixed up fresh it’s as new as I am alive. The fact that it hardens from a soft mud is amazingly decisive; and when I decide we decide together.
Quartz, Quartz is loaded with human associations from very early times. For as long as I can remember I’ve liked quartz. Quartz has a way of being energetically still and this characteristic I also find in myself. With quartz being a familiar conduit I’m able to express human influences in conjunction with nature. Most relationships people have had with quartz have been benevolent. This fact is what I consider a shared foundation and when making sculpture I know any one of us could have picked up the same stone."