January 1973. Wood. Dimensions: 19 × 29 × 12 in (48 × 74 × 30 cm). Collection of the artist.
Homage to Brancusi was created while I was an undergraduate at Kent State University and is a full-throated acknowledgment of my admiration for Constantin Brancusi and his groundbreaking reduction of the human figure to elemental, archetypal form. Carved in wood, the sculpture directly references Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse, originally carved in marble in 1909 and subsequently cast in bronze. Its simplified, egg-like volume and smoothly carved contours reflect my early fascination with his ability to move beyond literal representation in search of the essential character of a form.
At this formative stage, Brancusi helped me understand that abstraction did not necessarily mean abandoning the figure, but rather distilling it. In Homage to Brancusi, the head is reduced to a continuous rounded mass, with a sweeping concavity suggesting facial structure while allowing the grain and warmth of the wood to remain visually active. Looking back, the sculpture marks an important early step in my developing interest in simplification, material, mass and void, and the expressive power of abstract form—concerns that would soon lead me toward a more personal sculptural language.
January 1973. Wood. Dimensions: 19 × 29 × 12 in (48 × 74 × 30 cm). Collection of the artist.
Homage to Brancusi was created while I was an undergraduate at Kent State University and is a full-throated acknowledgment of my admiration for Constantin Brancusi and his groundbreaking reduction of the human figure to elemental, archetypal form. Carved in wood, the sculpture directly references Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse, originally carved in marble in 1909 and subsequently cast in bronze. Its simplified, egg-like volume and smoothly carved contours reflect my early fascination with his ability to move beyond literal representation in search of the essential character of a form.
At this formative stage, Brancusi helped me understand that abstraction did not necessarily mean abandoning the figure, but rather distilling it. In Homage to Brancusi, the head is reduced to a continuous rounded mass, with a sweeping concavity suggesting facial structure while allowing the grain and warmth of the wood to remain visually active. Looking back, the sculpture marks an important early step in my developing interest in simplification, material, mass and void, and the expressive power of abstract form—concerns that would soon lead me toward a more personal sculptural language.
