Bill Barrett 2012

BillBarrett DNA

R A I LYA R D

BillBarrett DNA AUGUST 31 - OCTOBER 7. 2012 RAILYARD GALLERY

LewAllenGalleries Railyard: 1613 Paseo De Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 Downtown: 125 West Palace Avenue | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.8997 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com cover: DNA 2, 2012, fabricated bronze, 46.5” x 42” x 30”

Bill Barrett: DNA

Over the course of an evolving artistic career, Bill Barrett has explored the interplay between positive and negative space with grace, elegance, and exquisite balance. Fluidity, celebration, and effortlessness coexist with form, line, color, and content in his sculptures and paintings. To invoke something greater than aesthetic pleasure in his viewer, an artist must strive to establish a relationship with him; not only must a work appeal to the viewer’s inner self, to his

Cupid in Training, 2011, oil on canvas, 60” x 66”

moods and ideas, but the viewer must also feel encouraged to understand the artist’s practice and process. As Barrett is quick to aver, “Merely being beautiful or creative doesn’t make art great…art can be a life-giving force enriching one’s senses and refreshing one’s visions.” For Barrett: “Important sculptures are sculptures the public can live with, grow with,

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two qualities. One is the immediacy of the drawing, the hand responding to both the mind’s intent and to the graceful continuity of a cursive line. But calligraphy’s primary intent is to convey meaning. Even when adopted by an artist such as Jackson Pollock, it retains some of that referential quality, a suggestion of cryptic communication. For Barrett, both aspects are important.

and keep going back to physically, mentally, and emotionally.”

The work of Rodin and Henry Moore provided some of Barrett’s early inspiration. As a student he aspired to the satisfying freedom of abstract expressionism, but in the late 1950s, when he became a sculptor, welding and fabricating metal attracted him. The full evolution of Barrett’s artistic creation reveals that several formal ideas recur: the arch, the bridge, and the virile, celebratory thrust of Don Quixote’s lance. Underlying it all is the grand theme of Barrett’s search for an almost impossible synthesis between the tactile process of free modeling, the expressive gesture, and the craft of welding sheets of metal. “It took a while for me to truly control the metal. It evolved,” says Barrett.

In the early 1990s, stimulated by the colors and light of New Mexico, Barrett took up the paintbrush for the first time since his student days. Up to that point he had always drawn, but only in the service of his sculpture. Painting became a constant complement to his sculpture. The sources of Barrett’s painting are the masters of surrealism: Arp, Matta, and Gorky, and above all, his father’s teacher, Fernand Léger. The light of New Mexico, represented by combinations of Mediterranean bright yellows against lollipop reds; and flat French blues between lavenders and lime greens, also infuses his canvases. But the ultimate source of these paintings of the early nineties is Barrett’s positive nature. Painting became of great importance to Barrett in the 1990s. His work on canvas not only provided an independent outlet for his creativity, but also facilitated the definition of calligraphic and surrealistic images that appear in his sculpture. His ideas and creative energy often exceed the bounds of a single canvas so he works on three or four paintings at once.

Three major innovations in sculpture in the first third of the twentieth century, all related and all associated with Picasso, were the wellsprings of the tradition within which Bill Barrett would work: pure abstraction, the technique of construction, and the welding of metal. A further influence on Barrett’s work was surrealism, which also had its origins in the first third of the century, and to which Picasso also contributed.

[In 1958] Bill Barrett learned to weld at the University of Michigan with an oxyacetylene torch. The process is very much like gluing two pieces of wood together, except that molten metal plays the role of the glue. To weld two pieces of iron, the welder first places them in contact, usually with clamps. Wearing dark goggles, with one hand he holds the torch, oscillating the flame back and forth across the joint until the metal becomes red hot and then melts...with his other hand he touches the end of a thin welding rod, made of the same material, into the puddle. Adding material in this way, he pushes the puddle along the seam. As the puddle of molten metal enters the seam and cools behind the moving torch, the weld is created. In some cases, Barrett uses a welding rod containing a flux, a metal with a lower melting point, to facilitate the process.

It is the combination of emotional depth with a graceful, joyful expansiveness that accounts for much of the complexity and power of Barrett’s recent work. Words may illuminate these works, but only dimly. Ultimately they must be welcomed as the untranslatable products of human artistic creativity, to be confronted and prized in a domain that they themselves help to define.

-Excerpted from Phillip F. Palmedo, “Bill Barrett: Evolution of a Sculptor,” 2003, New York: Hudson Hills Press

My sculptures are vehicles through which my humanity communicates with the viewers. In my artwork, I am always striving to incorporate beauty of perfection and emotion, using uplifting forms towards harmony and assertiveness and how they relate to each other. In each new work of art, I am in pursuit of a certain “life-spark” that I might not have achieved in a previous sculpture or painting.

Creating free-flowing calligraphic images in bronze is no mean feat and Barrett’s long-time sculpture tool, the welding torch, is far removed from the calligrapher’s brush. The technique used by most fabricated metal sculptors, making models out of thin metal sheet, wood, or cardboard, is unsatisfactory for Barrett. He believes such materials impose an inhibiting rigidity on the creative process. Not so molten wax, however, whose feel and malleability had always appealed to the sculptor. The power of the calligraphic gesture derives from

-Bill Barrett, excerpted from the exhibition catalog for Polyphonic Abstraction: Paintings and Maquettes by Bill Barret, January

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12 – August 2, 2010, Christian Petersen Art Museum, Iowa State University.

Best known for his large public sculptures of welded steel, aluminum, and bronze, Bill Barrett also reveals himself as a prolific, vigorous painter. [Barrett’s paintings] display a multitude of influences from the classic modern tradition, especially the broken fragments of Cubist composition, the dream-like floating forms of Surrealist abstraction, and the swirling calligraphic energy of Abstract Expressionism.

Visible here too are shapes which invoke the American Western landscape—mountains and deserts—and the Eastern cityscape of towering buildings and manic traffic.

Arshile Gorky is Barrett’s most obvious inspiration among the old masters of modern painting. Gorky took the “biomorphs” of the Surrealists—undefined organic blobs meant to evoke mysterious life-forms from the Freudian unconscious—and turned them into wild things.

Barrett keeps the spirit of frolic inherited from Gorky’s amoebas, but his biomorphic abstractions are painted with a playful and humorous touch, muppets not monsters from the Id, projecting Barrett’s own sense of humor and cheerful character, as well as an optimistic attitude we can trace to his Midwestern upbringing.

In any conversation with Barrett, the theme of dance comes up: he is a great fan of the classical ballet as well as modernist movements made famous by Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. His compositions, both 3-D and 2-D, suggest individuals and partners engaged in swinging, leaping, kicking, and reaching out and up. With their exuberant choreography, Barrett’s painting and sculptures summon us to the ecstasy of motion.

-Dr. John Cunnally, Associate Professor Art History, Iowa State University; excerpted from the exhibition catalog for Polyphonic Abstraction: Paintings and Maquettes by Bill Barrett, January 12 – August 2, 2010, Christian Petersen Art Museum, Iowa State University.

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Muskateer, 2010, fabricated bronze, 84” x 84” x 52” 5

Energia, 2011, fabricated bronze, 44” x 33” x 24” 6

DNA 3 (large), 2012, cast bronze, 47” x 34” x 14” 7

Pinnacle II, 2008, fabricated bronze, 36” x 21” x 19” 8

Pinnacle V, 2008, fabricated bronze, 120” x 84” x 60” 9

Boogie Woogie 1, 2008, cast bronze, 27” x 21” x 15” 10

African, 2008, fabricated bronze, 34.5” x 14” x 21” 11

DNA 7, 2012, cast bronze, 14” x 9” x 9” 12

DNA 6, 2012, cast bronze, 14.5” x 12” x 11” 13

Pinnacle XIX, 2009, cast bronze, 23” x 14” x 12” 14

Untitled Pinnacle Study, 2012, cast bronze, 14.75” x 7” x 9” 15

DNA Model 2, 2011, cast bronze, 15.5” x 14” x 10” 16

DNA Model 5, 2011, cast bronze, 14.5” x 14.5” x 6” 17

DNA Model 1, 2011, cast bronze, 17” x 15.5” x 9” 18

Eastern Memories 1, 1995, cast bronze, 18.5” x 17” x 10” 19

DNA 8, 2012, cast bronze, 14” x 12” x 6” 20

DNA 3, 2012, cast bronze, 23.5” x 17” x 7” 21

DNA Patterns II, 2012, oil on canvas, 84” x 63” 22

Cupid’s Transgressions, 2011, oil on canvas, 60” x 60” 23

Captain Marvel, 2011, oil on canvas, 72” x 96” 24

Kid Marvel, 2011, oil on canvas, 96” x 72” 25

DNA Patterns III, 2012, oil on canvas, 84” x 63” 26

Energia 4, 2008-10, oil on canvas, 48” x 36” 27

Energia 5, 2008-10, oil on canvas, 60” x 48” 28

Energia 6, 2008-10, oil on canvas, 48” x 36” 29

Pinnacle Drawing #1, 2007, colored pencil on paper, 47� x 34�

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Pinnacle Drawing #2, 2007, colored pencil on paper, 47� x 34�

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Pinnacle Drawing #3, 2007, colored pencil on paper, 47� x 34�

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Pinnacle Drawing #7, 2007, colored pencil on paper, 47� x 34�

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Bill Barrett Born: 1934, Los Angeles, CA

Education: B.S. and M.S. in Design, M.F.A., University of Michigan

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 2012 Bill Barrett, DNA, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2012 Bill Barrett, Sculpture and Paintings, Elaine Baker Gallery,

Boca Raton, FL 2011 Bill Barrett, Paintings and Sculptures, Kouros Gallery, New

York, NY 2010 Polyphonics, Iowa State University, Christian Petersen Art

Museum, Ames, IA

Synchronicities, Kouros Gallery, New York, NY 2008-09 Exquisite Balance, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 2008 Drawing Exhibition, Michigan State University, College of

Arts and Letters, Kresge Art Center, East Lansing, MI

LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM

Kouros Gallery, New York, NY 2007 Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ 2006 Kouros Gallery, New York, NY 2005 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM 2004 Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL 2002 Century Association, New York, NY

Ira Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA 1982-05 DeGraaf Fine Art, Saugatuck, MI 2001 McCormick Works of Art, Chicago, IL

Kouros Gallery, New York, NY

Cline Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM 2000 Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ

J. J. Brookings Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1999 Harris Gallery, Houston, TX 1998 J. J. Brookings Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1997–98 Nardin Gallery, New York, NY 1996 Kouros Gallery, New York, NY

Cline Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1995 Mongerson-Wunderlich Gallery, Chicago, IL

Galerie Roswitha Benkert, Zurich 1994 Kouros Gallery, New York, NY 1993 Cline Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1990 Galerie Roswitha Benkert, Zurich

Shidoni Contemporary Gallery, Tesuque, NM 1986 Kouros Gallery, New York, NY

Galerie Roswitha Benkert, Zurich 1985–86 Bellevue Hospital Sculpture Garden (outdoor),

New York, NY 1985 Kouros Gallery, New York, NY 1983 Sculpture Center, New York, NY

1976–77 1976 1975

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1973 1972 1971 1970 1969

1967 1966 1965 1964

Brooklyn Borough Hall (outdoor show), Brooklyn, NY City University of New York, Graduate Mall, New York, NY County Executive Buildings, (outdoor show) White Plains, NY Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, Long Island, NY Katonah Art Gallery, Katonah, New York, NY James Yu Gallery, New York, NY Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY Lantern Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY 10 Downtown Show, New York, NY Jason Gallery, New York, NY Kalamazoo Art Center, Kalamazoo, MI Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI Hanamura Galleries, Detroit, MI

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2012 Comune di Pontedera, Pontedera, Italy 2011 Friends of Finn Square in Tribeca, City of New York and

NYC Parks and Recreation Department present, 9/11

Memorial Sculpture Commemorating 10th Anniversary 2009 20 Bildhauer-20Skulpturen, Villa Haiss Museum, Zell am

Harmersback, Germany 2007 Los Angeles Art Show (exhibited by LewAllen

Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM) at Barker Hangar,

Santa Monica, CA 2005 U.S. Embassy Residence in Vatican City, The Holy See 2004 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM 2003 Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL

LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

Eckert Fine Art Gallery, Naples, FL 2002 Tenth Anniversary Invitational, Grounds For Sculpture,

Hamilton, NJ 2001 Ford Park Sculpture Exhibition, Art in Public Places

Program, Vail, CO

30th Anniversary Invitational Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition,

Shidoni Gallery, Tesuque, NM 2000 Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Sculpture 2000 International, New London, CT

ALVA Gallery, New London, CT

Euro Galleries, Minneapolis 2000–19 McCormick Works of Art, Navy Pier Expo, Chicago, IL

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1999 Benson Gallery, East Hampton, NY

The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, OH 1995–99 Quietude Garden Gallery, East Brunswick, NJ 1992–94, 97-98 Navy Pier Exhibition, Chicago, IL 1998 Albright College Center For The Arts, Freedman Gallery,

Reading, PA 1997 Thomas McCormick Works of Art, Chicago, IL 1992–97 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, College of Santa Fe,

Santa Fe, NM 1996 Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ

Friends of Contemporary Art, Lewallen Galleries,

Santa Fe, NM

Armory Show, Kouros Gallery, NY

Bologna-Landi Gallery, East Hampton, NY 1995–96 Outdoor Installation, West Broadway and Varick Streets,

New York, NY 1995 Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN

Mongerson-Wunderlich Gallery, Chicago, IL

La Quinta Sculpture Garden, La Quinta, CA 1994 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

Turner-Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Benkert Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

Philadelphia Expo, Philadelphia, PA 1988–94 Eve Mannes Gallery, Atlanta, GA 1992 Kyoto Gallery, Kyoto, Japan 1991–92 1st Alabama Biennial, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 1991 Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Kouros Gallery, Outdoor Sculpture Garden, Ridgefield, CT 1990 Tokyo Expo, Nina Owen, Ltd., Chicago, IL 1989-90 Sculpture Tour, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN 1989 International Contemporary Art Fair, Los Angeles

Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA

Flat Iron Gallery, New York, NY

Basel Expo, Basel, Switzerland

Cavalier Gallery, Stamford, CT

Food Center Sculpture Park at Hunts Point, Bronx, NY 1988 Ruth Vared Gallery, Easthampton, NY

The Romanek Sculpture Garden, Chicago, IL

Hudson River Museum, Sculptor’s Guild, Yonkers, NY 1987 Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY 1984-87 Schulman Sculpture Garden, White Plains, NY 1986 Guild Hall Museum, Easthampton, NY

Shidoni Contemporary Gallery and Sculpture Garden,

1984 1983 1982-83 1982

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1970-81 1980

1978–80

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1975

1973–75

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1972 1970 1970 1966 1964

1963 1959-63 1959

Tesuque, NM Snug Harbor Museum, Staten Island, NY Sid Deutsch Gallery, New York, NY Phoenix Botanical Gardens, Phoenix, AZ The Great Garden Sculpture Show, Sculptural Arts Museum, Atlanta, GA International Sculpture Conference, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA Botanical Gardens (outdoor show, Sculptor’s Guild), Bronx, NY Sculpture Center, Sixty-Ninth Street, New York, NY Sculpture Center, Sixty-Ninth Street, New York, NY “AREA” (outdoor show), Washington, DC “AREA” (outdoor show), Wards Island, NY American Mission Building, United Nations, New York, NY Lincoln Center, New York, NY Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY Alexander Milliken Gallery, New York, NY Foley Square (outdoor), New York, NY PS 1, Long Island City, NY Art Train, Michigan Art Train, Inc. The Society of the Four Arts Sculpture Competition, New York Cultural Center, Columbus Circle, NY Storm King Art Center, Sculpture in the Fields, Mountainville, NY Large Outdoor Sculpture Show, Bach Festival, Bethlehem, PA Sculpture III, Department of Cultural Affairs, World Trade Center, Pratt Institute and LaGuardia Airport, New York, NY Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT Whitney Museum Sculpture Annual, New York, NY University of the South, Sewanee, TN The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH The Bundy Art Gallery, Waitsfield, VT The San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA The Detroit Institute of Arts Shows, Detroit, MI Father/Son, Indiana Art Center, South Bend, IN

MUSEUM AND UNIVERSITY COLLECTIONS: 911 Memorial Museum, New York, NY Albright College, Freedman Gallery, Reading, PA Albuquerque Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM

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Aldrich Museum of Art, Ridgefield, CT Allan Houser Foundation, Permanent Collection, Santa Fe, NM Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH Eastern Michigan University Library, Ypsilanti, MI Fine Arts Museum of Oklahoma City, OK Goddard Visual Art Center, Ardmore, OK Grounds for Sculpture Museum, Hamilton, NJ Guild Hall Museum of Art, East Hampton, NY Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM Hope College, Music School, Holland, MI The Hyde Collection Art Museum, Glens Falls, NY Iowa State University, Art on Campus Collection, Gerdin Building, College of Business, Ames, IA Iowa State University, Art on Campus Model and Maquette Collection, Ames, IA Iowa State University, Department of Music and Theater, Ames, Iowa International Foundation Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Las Vegas Museum of Art, Las Vegas, NV Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Mitchell Wolfson New World Campus, Miami, FL Museum of Outdoor Art, Englewood, Colorado Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY Norfolk Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA Pyramid Hill, Sculpture Park and Museum, Hamilton, OH Reading Museum, Reading, PA Rice University, Houston, TX Runnymede Sculpture Farm, San Francisco, CA Santa Fe Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ Stony Brook University, Louis and Beatrice Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology The Utsukushi-ga-Hara Open Air Museum, Tokyo, Japan University of Hartford, Hartford, CT University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan, School of Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan, School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI University of Montana, Montana Museum of Art and Culture, Missoula, MT University of the South, Sewanee, TN

University of Syracuse, Syracuse, NY Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: Ann Arbor City Hall, Ruby Church Memorial, Ann Arbor, MI City of Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ Criminal Court Building, Hartford, CT New York City, New Dorp High School, Staten Island, NY Nyack Plaza Mall, Nyack, NY Pennington Park, Patterson, NJ SELECTED PRIVATE COLLECTIONS: 1615 L. Street, Washington, DC 2001 K. Street, Washington, DC Belz Enterprises, Memphis, TN Best Products Corporation, Richmond, VA Bishop Ranch, San Ramon, CA Brandywine Realty and Trust, Austin, TX The Corinthian Building, New York, NY Dell Corporation, Austin, TX Eighty One Mainstreet Associates, White Plains, NY Garden Communities, La Jolla, CA Hitachi Corporation, Kyushu Plant, Kanda, Japan Jade Pig Corporation, Gaslight Village, Grand Rapids, MI La Jolla Crossroads, La Jolla, CA Lincoln National Life Insurance Company Foundation, Fort Wayne, IN Lumiere Place Casino and Hotel, A Four Seasons Hotel, St. Louis, MO Neiman-Marcus, Dallas, TX Pacific Enterprises, Law Library, Los Angeles, CA Palazzo Hotel Resort Casino, Las Vegas, NV Peabody Hotel, Little Rock, AR (Belz Enterprises, Memphis, TN) Portman Corporation, Northpark Town Center, Atlanta, GA Rockefeller Realty Corporation, #3 Embarcadero West, San Francisco, CA Saint Vincent Hospital, Santa Fe, NM Schulman Realty Group, White Plains, NY Sempra Energy International, San Diego, CA Tower Insurance Group, New York, NY Trammell-Crow, Paramount, CA Valley National Bank, Phoenix, AZ West Group, One Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, CA AWARDS: 1994 The Audubon Artists Silver Medal of Honor for Sculpture, NY

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1992

1990 1988

1987 1986 1965

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1961

1960

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The Audubon Artists Chaim Gross Foundation Award for Sculpture, NY The Audubon Artists Gold Medal of Honor for Sculpture, NY Fiftieth Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, Best Sculpture Award, East Hampton, NY Hakone Open-Air Museum Award, Japan The R.S. Reynolds Memorial Award Kalamazoo Area Art Exhibition/Art Center 1965-1966, Second Annual Purchase, Kalamazoo, MI Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti Merit Award, Ypsilanti, MI Forty-sixth Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists and Craftsman of the Western Reserve, Jury Mention, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH Awarded an exhibition at the Kalamazoo Art Center, Kalamazoo, MI Annual North Dakota Exhibition Prize in Sculpture, ND Detroit Institute of Arts, Lewis Prize for Outstanding Work by a Michigan Teacher, Detroit, MI Western Michigan Art Gallery Award for Sculpture, Grand Rapids, MI Albert Kahn and Associates Award, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI Tri Kappa Award, First Prize Sculpture, Fort Wayne Art Museum, Fort Wayne, IN

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Railyard: 1613 Paseo De Peralta | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.3250 Downtown: 125 West Palace Avenue | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 | tel 505.988.8997 www.lewallengalleries.com | info@lewallengalleries.com