Peter Woytuk
Black Birds, bronze, 1998-99
Peter Woytuk
Recent Sculpture
September 9-October 10, 1999
My work has developed and moved from an interest in abstract imagery to a more representational exploration of natural form. The subject matter is highly fertile ground, suggesting endless possibilities for sculptural interpretation and invention. Past sculpture has been concerned with a distillation of animal shape into simpler forms and the resulting interplay of concave and convex masses. This dialectic is intensified by placing animals in groupings, creating environments where the negative space and the relationship between sculptures is as important as the sculptures themselves. I consider the grouping to be one unified sculpture that the viewer is able to walk around and within.
In recent work, "natural form" in the shape of sticks, limbs and splittings from the backyard woodpile have become the components--the sculptural building blocks--in assembling a piece. Once cast into bronze, these new pieces are a dynamic mixture of objects and textures.
For the last ten years, through a New York dealer, I've had the opportunity to work with several art foundries in Asia. These facilities have the capability of melting 10,000 pounds of bronze into a single pour. As a result, my work has grown larger and larger in scale. Recently, we completed a commission of four life-size, bronze elephants for the entrance of the North Carolina Zoological Park.
