BREAKING THE MOLD By John O’Hern
THE ANIMAL SCULPTURES OF GEOFFREY GORMAN AND KEVIN BOX PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF FORM AND MATERIALS IN UNCONVENTIONAL WAYS.
Geoffrey Gorman and Kevin Box approach the sculpture of animals in unique ways, distinct from each other and immediately identifiable as their own work in the world of animalier. Unlike the 19th-century sculptors of realistic animals, Box and Gorman use unexpected materials to make representations that go beyond and within the recognizable forms.
Box approaches a square blank sheet of white paper in the same way the painter approaches a blank canvas or the composer approaches silence. “The very first pieces I folded had nothing to do with origami,” Box relates. “I was trying to describe the architecture of the soul, the invisible aspects of humanity. What do thoughts look like? What does spirit look like? I folded star patterns working from the blank slate of that square piece of paper. I thought it was much deeper than origami. I finally succumbed, however, and tried to fold the traditional origami crane. I eventually succeeded.”
The crane is thought to live for 1,000 years by the Japanese and is symbolic of hope and healing. Box says the cranes and doves, symbolic of peace, also represent the spirit or “the fluttering white light that lives within us."
Curious about his first folded crane, he decided to unfold it. Box says, “There was a star inside, just like I had been doing. It was an ‘aha!’ moment. There is the memory in the paper of every crease that is made to create an animal. It’s symbolic of life. We make choices that determine the outcome. At the end, life unfolds and becomes a star, an accurate record of a life. It was a profound experience for me.”
He developed techniques to transform his folded paper creations into table sized and monumental sculptures in steel, bronze and aluminum, able to withstand the extremes of weather. He is present at every step along the way as he directs a team of fabricators, shippers and installers. “It’s like a rock band,” he says. “People in the group make the piece sing.”
He says, “I’m leading beyond the physical with the physical. The lighthearted image of origami is disarming. People assume they know what they’re looking at. They don’t stop to really look. The pieces are intentionally crafted to lead the viewer on a journey, to help them connect with the self and the sacredness and complexities beneath the surface of things.”
In a joint exhibition with Gorman at Selby Fleetwood Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he will be showing his Hero’s Horse, a collaboration with the famed origami artist Dr. Robert. J. Lang. The title could simply have been Pegasus but Box wanted the viewer to contemplate “What does it take to be a hero? What kind of help do we get?” The text accompanying the sculpture, which also appears in his traveling Origami in the Garden installations, reads, in part, “Ancient Legends tell of a winged horse sent from above to help the hero in his journey to save the world. Upon completing the task, the mythical winged horse returns to the sky, unfolding into the stars becoming the constellation Pegasus.”
Also in the exhibition is the extraordinarily complex Flying Folds, also a collaboration with Lang. It is accompanied by Crane Unfolded, Phoenix Rising, Opus #563, an unfolded version of the sculpture revealing its complex inner life.
Gorman’s sculptures are assembled from the detritus of everyday life. “Kevin and I are innovative with the materials we’re using,” he says. “We’re open to different and unusual techniques. We both have a pretty strong vision.
“My vision,” he continues, “is to repopulate the earth with animals who are getting back at humans for destroying it. They’re taking junk and using it against us. One of the animals takes an old pair of pliers and attaches them to his body as protection. I think of them as being out there where we can only catch a passing glimpse of a shadow. I was out hiking and saw a jackrabbit on the trail. As I walked closer, he sat there and wouldn’t move. I was intimidated and thought, ‘They’re coming back to get us!’”
Gorman grew up near an abandoned horse farm outside of Baltimore. He says, “We brought home animals like a red fox and a raccoon and built things like tree
forts, rafts and go-carts using the wood from the old barns. We were channeling Huck Finn. The house was built in the 1700s and there was an old dump outside that we would dig into to find things.”
He attended a variety of art colleges, and designed and built contemporary furniture. He later became a gallery dealer, curated shows, and was an art consultant and coach for artists. Fifteen years ago he was curating a show and decided to assemble figures using sticks, rags and wire to show “you can make something from anything.” He says, “I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. It was so serendipitous making those figures. I knew it was tapping into something inside me. I let my life experience dictate what I was doing. It’s sort of a secret language.”
In high school he had written a short story about how the earth had seemingly been saved. Gorman explains, “Everything was fine until a guy’s walking along and looks under a piece of earth and sees that underneath everything has been destroyed.”
People give him “stuff” to use in his sculptures. He won’t use plastic, however, or barbed wire or animal bone. “Sometimes I’m inspired by a story and other times by an animal,” he says. “Sometimes it’s the material. I had some old electrical wire that had been white but had turned an ivory color. Anteaters have feathery tails and I was able to use it for that.
“I use tires a lot now but I don’t want people to look at the materials and think ‘bike tire’ or ‘old coffee can,’” he adds, “I want them to think ‘That looks like fur’ or ‘otter’s skin.’”
Gorman explains, “Rabbits are a recurring theme. They’re kind of like my alter ego. I’m getting familiar with this cast of characters as a metaphor for my life.”
A recent piece in the exhibition is a rabbit. “He is called the The Wise Mountaineer,” Gorman writes, “...but in fact he is quite mischievous. When unsuspecting travelers seek his advice or directions, he gives them confusing and misleading information. (Remember that all of my rabbits are tricksters.)”