Bob Trotman Joins if ART Gallery

North Carolina artist Bob Trotman has joined if ART Gallery. Trotman, who has developed a strong regional reputation with his large, wooden sculpture, will be showing terra cotta and porcelain studies of his larger work. The gallery will introduce Trotman's studies during its upcoming exhibition "Fantastic Reality" at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios in Columbia. 
Trotman, who is self-taught as an artist, was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1947. He received a B.A. in philosophy from Washington and Lee University and 35 years has maintained a studio in the foothills of Western North Carolina. Among the museums that have his work is in their permanent collection are the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond; the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh; the Weatherspoon Museum of Art at the University of North Carolina Greensboro; the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, N.C.; the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and the Museum of Art and Design in New York City.

For available works by Trotman, an artist's statement and resume, scroll down.

For a short film of Trotman discussing his work and showing small studies of his big sculptures like the ones available at if ART, CLICK HERE.

To see Trotman's figures come alive, CLICK HERE.
To hear the world through the mouth of a Trotman sculpture, CLICK HERE.

For installation images CLICK HERE

Ego, 2009, terra cotta, oxide, wood, 

7,5" w x 4"h x 2" d, $600

Head, 2003, clay, paint, wood,

5.5" h x 2."w x 3" d, $450/SOLD

Hostage, 2009, terra cotta, papier 

mache, wood,8'h x 6"w x 4"d,

$600

Jane (study), 2005, terra cotta, wood, 

paint,, 8"h x 7"w x 3.5" d, $550

John (study), 2006, terra cotta, wood, 

paint, 9" h x 9" w x 5.5" d, $600/SOLD

John (study), 2005, porcelain, 

wood, graphite, 10"h x 6"w x 4"d,

$650

Swan Dive (study), 2000, clay, paint, wood,

8" h x 11.5" w x 5" d, $850/SOLD

Bob Trotman Artist's Statement
Working mostly 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 and in circuses.  But as a contemporary artist I am fascinated by a noire narrative of life at the office.  My wooden people, often surprisingly posed, evoke both humor and anxiety and, taken together, offer an absurdist vision of an imaginary corporate purgatory.






























Bob Trotman Resume
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2012Office: Sculpture by Bob Trotman, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA

2010-2011Inverted Utopias North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC

2008-2010Business as Usual, Staniar Gallery, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA (traveled to Cameron Art Museum, Greenville County Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Art, and 701 Center for Contemporary Art, Columbia, SC)

2006Frist Center for Visual Art, Gordon Project Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee

2004Recent Work, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina

2002Model Citizens, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia

2001Falk Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina

2001After the Fall, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York

2000Recent Work, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina

1998Eight Figures, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York

1996Recent Work, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York

1995-1996ArtCurrents 20: Bob Trotman, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina

1994Bob Trotman: A Retrospective of Furniture and Sculpture, Visual Arts Program, NC State University, Raleigh, North Carolina

1994New Work, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York

1993Sculpture, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia

1992Sculpture, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011-2012Connections: Marilyn Murphy/Bob Trotman, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama

2007The Liberated Eye: American Modernisms., Weatherspoon Art Museum. Greensboro, North Carolina

2005From the Neck Up, Franklin Parrasch Gallery New York, New York

2004Food Matters, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York

2004Revelations, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina

1990-1993Art That Works, (Lloyd Herman, curator) traveled U.S.

1986Poetry of the Physical, (Paul Smith, curator), traveled U.S.

EDUCATION

1965-1969B.A. Philosophy, Magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Washington and Lee University

1988Francisco Rivera, The Sculpture Center, New York, New York

1986Robert Morris, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida

1985James Surls, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida

1977Sam Maloof, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina

1976Jon Brooks, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia
Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina
The Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, North Carolina
Museum of Art, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
The Vice-President’s Residence, Washington, DC
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, North Carolina
Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, North Carolina
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, North Carolina
Sydney and Francis Lewis Collection, Richmond, Virginia
Gregg Museum of Art and Design, North Carolina State University, Raleigh,North Carolina

GRANTS AND AWARDS

2006, 2008United States Artists, Fellowship Nominee

1984, 1995, 2000, 2010North Carolina Artists Fellowship

1984, 1988National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship