BOB TROTMAN Artist Statement

Bob Trotman: Artist Statement

As a figurative sculptor my concern is the exploration, interpretation, and representation of the human body as a primal medium for projecting thought and feeling: in the expressive language of its poses and dress, its gestures, its facial expressions, and in its disposition in relation to its surroundings. Of the many possibilities open to me, I am most interested in expressions of alienation: alienation of the self from society, from the physical environment, and even of the self from itself. Not only is this feeling resonant for me personally, but, I believe, by way of attempts to avoid it, it is responsible for much of our social behavior. For me the expression of alienation is more penetrating with a certain amount of ironic humor. Since I work primarily in wood, I see my efforts in relation to the vernacular traditions of the carved religious figures, ships' figureheads, and the so-called "show figures" found in the nineteenth century outside shops or in circus displays. I am concerned, however. with contemporary sensibility, even if I approach it through what some might consider an archaic medium. My subjects are confronted with dilemmas they can neither escape nor understand, and wood, through its organic warmth, its quirks, and flaws gives their quandaries an immediacy they might not otherwise have.