DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD
Seven Bronze Sculptures
June 2 - July 30, 2011
Read reviews:
June 9, 2011
The Seattle Times
Review: Deborah Butterfield's contemplative horses at Greg Kucera
by Gayle Clemens
COPPER, 2011
Copper
23 x 25 x 8 inches
SOLD
June/July exhibition
Photo credit: Richard Nicol
My work is not so overtly about movement. My horses' gestures are really quite quiet, because real horses move so much better than I could pretend to make things move. For the pieces I make, the gesture is really more within the body, it's like an internalized gesture, which is more about the content, the state of mind or of being at a given instant. And so it's more like a painting...the gesture and the movement is all pretty much contained within the body. - Deborah Butterfield
PLUMBUM, 2011
Lead, copper, bronze and silicone adhesive
54 x 46 x 14 inches
SOLD
TRACERY, 2010
Generally speaking, Butterfield builds these large works of various elements that share a similar scale and weight. Occasionally, as in Tracery, she works with a variety of plant material, adding in delicate branches and twigs amidst the large structural parts. In this work, departing from her usual method, she also added bits and pieces of smaller material after the original wood material had been cast and then welded back together. There are several passages in the head, neck and along the legs, containing bits of twigs, and even vines, that combine to make this work wonderfully graceful. The patination is overall a range of grays with some black areas to create drama and the ends of broken sticks colored in ochre. The neck turns gently to the right.
TRACERY, 2010
Unique cast bronze with patina
100.5 x 115 x 42 inches
SOLD
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Additional view 1 |
Additional view 2 |
Additional view 3 |
MADROÑO, 2009
Originally built of sticks and branches from the Madrona, this work was patinated to resemble the deep reds and oranges of the bark of this lovely Pacific Coast tree. Butterfield has recently been experimenting with mixing quite large tree chunks and trunk pieces in with smaller, more delicate branches in her work. This sculpture displays this extreme juxtaposition, rendering the horse both concrete and gestural. The gestural quality of the horse is enhanced by the painterly patina Butterfield uses to depict the particular beauty of Madrona bark. It's rare to see this much color in Butterfield's work. This work was included in a spectacular Butterfield installation in "The Secret Language of Animals" at the Tacoma Art Museum in early 2010.
MADROÑO, 2009
Unique cast bronze with patina
86 x 117 x 26 inches
SOLD
KE'OKE'O , 2010-1
We have installed Ke'oke'o on the back deck of the gallery, silhouetted against a rusty backdrop. This sculpture has a very broad range of color from greys to ochres to sienna reds. The wood elements range from quite large broken sticks to pieces with pronounced knots and even a bit of burl in the chest. The wood curves and twists to make a muscular but graceful work. It has a lilting curve to its neck and looks slightly right and downward.
Currently on view on the deck
KE'OKE'O
, 2010-1
Unique cast bronze with patina
95 x 111 x 39 inches
Photo credit: Richard Nichol
SOLD
MA'ALAHI, 2010
This is among the most abstract works Butterfield has made recently. The delicate vines and graceful branching elements of this sculpture come from the tropical plants of Hawaii. Butterfield is able to weave them together while they are supple and flexible. When cast in bronze, their solidity belies their original material. The relatively small scale of most of the organic material used in this work gives it an airy, light feeling. The form is more suggested than sculpted, like a line drawing in space.
MA'ALAHI, 2010
Unique cast bronze with patina
45 x 46 x 32 inches
SOLD
UNTITLED, 2011
Unique cast bronze with patina
28 x 35 x 9 inches
SOLD
ULA, 2011
Unique cast bronze with patina
36 x 42 x 14 inches
SOLD
MAKANI, 2011
Unique cast bronze with patina
31 x 33 x 11 inches
SOLD
LA'ALA'AU, 2010
Literally meaning "twigs" in the Hawaiian language, "La'ala'au," is composed of the twigs and small branches of the flowering ohia tree. In casting the delicate twigs in bronze and welding them to the legs of this horse, Butterfield alludes to her early work wherein branches or tree trunks leaned against her horse sculptures creating an environment that also suggested the source of the materials of their own making. She also refers to the ohia tree itself because these branches grow directly from larger limbs and then fall to the ground forming a carpet of twigs at the base of the tree. This is the first time Butterfield has made a bronze with this kind of extra material that is not directly descriptive of a horse. We are pleased to introduce this work.
LA'ALA'AU, 2010
Unique cast bronze with patina
34 x 39 x 16.5 inches
SOLD
REDHEAD, 2005
Found welded steel, 30 x 124 x 67 inches
Price on request
Additional views of REDHEAD, 2005; click to enlarge:
2008 installation view of the front gallery
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