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Curt Brill
Dana, 2003
Walking along the lakeside path at Grounds For Sculpture, one is bound to meet Curt Brill's 'Dana'. Situated comfortably on a granite plinth, Brill's sculpture is engaging and inviting. One ponders as to what 'Dana' is contemplating. The exaggerated figurative form with its distinct gestural nuances conveys a sense of humor and enthusiasm. Evident in Dana is Brill's expressive hand -- "the push of his hand, the remnant impression of fingers, the shapes of his tools, the changes in pressure of his arm. Stretched, twisted, exaggerated and relaxed, [Brill's] sculptures…fix his anatomical forms in positions that range from ungainly to graceful." (1) The human figure is Brill's source of inspiration. He begins his sculptural process with quick drawings on brown craft paper -- these sketches set the creative mood for Brill and his model. The drawings are then rendered in three dimensions by means of clay maquettes. These maquettes are then enlarged in either clay or plaster as Brill prepares to work in the lost-wax method of bronze casting process. Brill was born in 1952 in the Bronx and attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY where he received a degree in design. His work has been featured in solo shows at the Karin Newby Galley and Galleria Musou in Tubac, AZ; the University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ; The Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; as well as several group exhibitions including the Obsidian Gallery, Tuscon, AZ; the Palm Beach Sculpture Biennale, Wellington, FL; and Skokie Sculpture Park, Chicago, IL. Brill's work is also in several collections -- Cornell University; Tucson Museum of Art, AZ; and the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, to name a few. (1) Peter S. Briggs. "Humans from Earth: Figurative Sculpture by Curt Brill" in Selected Drawings & Bronze Sculptures: Curt Brill 2005 (Galleria Musou, Tucson, AZ 2005), foreword. |