Carroll Todd miscellany
MISCELLANY is a collection of Carroll Todd’s small bronze works. Stylized animals, objects, and totems are in keeping with Todd’s favorite themes and forms, a selection narrowed down through nearly fifty years of sculpting.
Whimsical figures that are formally sophisticated but never solemn range from representational and familiar to total abstraction. Some are easily understood for what they are: a rabbit, a fish, a horse. Others, like Raptor, bridge our own understanding of a large bird of prey with Todd’s lexicon comprising modernist design, nature, unexpected scale, and humor.
Todd’s skill and technique are showcased best in his more formal elements like benches, weathervanes, and other outdoor sculpture. A well-placed notch, subtle fold, or unexpected point add movement to an otherwise stiff, solid, industrial material.
Each of Todd’s sculpture begins as a sketched idea. The work evolves into a small maquette to engineer seamless bends and folds that the bronze assumes on a larger scale. These two foundational steps are crucial to his meticulous process. Only after these are completed to his satisfaction can Todd cut, roll, bend, form, and weld the sheet bronze. After application of wax and layers of patinas, the result is grace and elegance rarely found in metal sculptures.
Carroll Todd is a native Memphian with a BFA from Memphis College of Art and an MFA from Cornell University. His work is in the collections of Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; Autozone Inc, Memphis; Design Network, St Louis; General Electric, Rockefeller Center, New York; Little Rock National Airport; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art; Miniature Museum of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam; Mobium/Graphic Management Corporation, Chicago; and Tudor Investment Company, New York.