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
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Ego, 2009, terra cotta, oxide, wood,
7,5" w x 4"h x
2" d, $600
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Head, 2003, clay, paint, wood,
5.5" h x 2."w x
3" d, $450/SOLD
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Hostage, 2009, terra cotta, papier
mache, wood,8'h x 6"w x 4"d,
$600
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Jane (study), 2005, terra cotta, wood,
paint,, 8"h x 7"w x
3.5" d, $550
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John (study), 2006, terra cotta, wood,
paint, 9" h x 9" w x
5.5" d, $600/SOLD
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John (study), 2005, porcelain,
wood, graphite, 10"h x 6"w x
4"d,
$650
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Swan Dive (study), 2000, clay, paint, wood,
8" h x 11.5" w x 5" d, $850/SOLD
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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
2006Frist Center for Visual Art, Gordon Project Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee
2001After the Fall, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York
1998Eight Figures, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York
1996Recent Work, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York
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
2005From the Neck Up, Franklin Parrasch Gallery New York, New York
2004Food Matters, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
1990-1993Art That Works, (Lloyd Herman, curator) traveled U.S.
1986Poetry of the Physical, (Paul Smith, curator), traveled U.S.
EDUCATION
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
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
