Sculpture and painting have co-existed for hundreds of years. However, in recent years, it seems as though sculpture has claimed a more important place in the visual arts scene. Artists find it much easier to convey messages through a three-dimensional image than the traditional two-dimensional means. Is it that actual space is essentially more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface? Is it that we get that 'immediate' message from a sculpture?
             Sculpture is an ancient form of human expression supported by a lasting tradition and by an ever increasing skill base. It is constantly being refreshed and reinvented in response to the creative vision and imagination of its practitioners and now takes many different forms and directions. In this essay I am going to explore how sculpture has changed and whether or not a two dimensional piece can be as evocative and powerful as a three dimensional piece. I am also going to speculate reasons for which artists may choose to express their ideas and themes in three dimensions rather than two dimensions and debate whether the changes in art practice are due to the bold nature of work being produced now or due to a genuine loss of interest in the more traditional techniques.
             For this essay I have decided to look at several artists that have used sculpture in order to convey very powerful messages that have also been expressed in two dimensions by past artists.
             Many artists have used subjects such as War and the Holocaust, and Religion in their work. These are very intense subjects and have the potential to be very shocking regardless of the means in which the artist chooses to show their work.
             Jake and Dinos Chapman are notorious for their shocking and terrifyingly realistic disfigured human bodies cleverly worked together with humour, wit and pleasure. The brothers are two of the most talked-about Young British Artists of their generation, their sculptures often only allo...