Bob Trotman: Business as Usual

May 23 – November 14, 2009

Mint Museum of Art 

 

Combining wood’s visual frankness and warmth with a philosophical sensation of dislocation and alienation, Bob Trotman’s figurative sculptures in Business as Usual intensely examine the psychology of everyday life. The nationally-acclaimed sculptor sees his wooden figures “…in relation to the vernacular traditions of…carved religious figures, ships’ figureheads, and the so-called ‘show’ figures…found in the nineteenth century,” yet inhabiting a familiar contemporary world in which “tragedy and comedy constantly vie for the upper hand.” Comically pointed yet empathic, Trotman’s figures suggest an enigma at the core of human experience.

 

Trotman is a self-taught artist located in Rutherford County, NC. After receiving a B.A. in Philosophy from Washington and Lee University, he began teaching English and developed an interest in poetry before becoming involved in the visual arts in the 1970's. Trotman began by creating furniture, but his art evolved into corporal beings by 1997. He has said that he believes his carvings have always had a human quality within them.

 

The Business as Usual exhibit features a collection of Trotman's more recent, corporally-centered sculptures and is divided into three sub-sections: the Committee, Cover Up and the Chorus. The Committee includes five wooden busts dressed in business attire. Each bust incorporates removable blocks for some of the facial features which can be rotated to change the emotion of the piece. The Cover Up is a single sculpture that includes four circular, standing figures covered from the knees up in a sheet while the Chorus again includes four separate sculptures each floating above the floor from the waist up with arms and heads raised.

 

• The artist file on Bob Trotman in the Mint Library contains newspaper and magazine clippings, including articles from The Times and News and Observer as well as magazine articles from Southern Accents, Sculpture Magazine and Art in America.
• Other contents include: exhibition pamphlets from Trotman's shows at other museums, a full catalog from the Bob Trotman: A Retrospective of Furniture and Sculpture exhibit at Foundations Gallery at North Carolina State University, a transcription of Carla Hanzal's (Curator of Contemporary Art at The Mint Museum) interview with Trotman and a brochure of the 1996 exhibit of Trotman's work at The Mint as well as a review from The Charlotte Observer.

 

Artist / Exhibit Information:

• Bob Trotman's Website
• Read the review in The Charlotte Observer for this exhibition.
• The exhibition at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC (May 22- October 12, 2008)- scroll halfway down the page
• Artist statement for Business as Usual exhibit at Louis Wells Cameron Art Museum / St. John's Museum in Wilmington, NC
• Interview with Carla Hanzal, curator of contemporary art for The Mint Museum, conducted for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Sept. 14, 2005
• Trotman's sculpture Cover Up was inspired by a scene in Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film The Battleship Potemkin. View the film to see the critical scene.
• Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC- brief artist bio
•  craddock - terry gallery, Lynchburg, VA- brief artist bio and a link to Trotman's website

 

 Other Works:

•  North Carolina Museum of Art Look, Learn, Teach website- general information on Trotman and his Model Citizens as well as lesson plan / classroom ideas
• Art in America online article about Bob Trotman's show at Franklin Parrasch Gallery in New York, Oct. 2001
• Press Release for the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN Oct. 17, 2006- includes information about Trotman's Model Citizens exhibit
• Frist Center for the Visual Arts Model Citizens exhibition description

 

Meet the Artist 

Bob Trotman on Bob Trotman

Sunday, June 14, 3:00 pm

Free to Mint members, or after admission

Meet nationally acclaimed North Carolina sculptor Bob Trotman as he discusses his works on view in Bob Trotman: Business as Usual, the eighth installment of the popular VantagePoint contemporary art series. Combining wood’s visual frankness and warmth with a philosophical sensation of dislocation and alienation, Trotman’s figures suggest an enigma at the core of human experience.

 

VantagePoint series sponsored by Goodrich Foundation.

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Page created by Rebecca Stockin, volunteer for The Mint Museum Library