Bob Trotman at Franklin Parrasch - Brief Article

Art in America, Oct, 2001 by Janet Koplos

Generally, when furniture-makers attempt sculpture, they hang on to vestigial function for security, with an occasional drawer here or a bit of tabletop there. But in the early '90s, when Bob Trotman was making furniture, his work was already compellingly sculptural, with carved human figures as central components, and he employed utility to advance the meaning. He/She Table had a man and woman--depicted from the hips up, their backs to each other--supporting the ends of a plank that symbolized their apparently burdensome relationship; Don't Ask, Don't Tell was a box in the form of a man's head with a drawer pull embedded in his clenched teeth, so you could pull open the drawer and seemingly find out what was inside him.

In his fourth show with Parrasch, Trotman, who lives and works in North Carolina and is self-taught as an artist, let go of the functional aspects. He grouped five wooden figures as an installation titled "After the Fall." The beautifully carved figures, made vulnerable looking by their three-quarter-life-size scale, wear business or casual attire. The wood is subtly colored with tempera and whitewash--gallery information notes that Trotman was influenced by medieval sculpture, especially that of Tilman Riemenschneider--but the tints are not used depictively. The modern dress of the smooth-finished figures is blandly nonspecific.

The meaning of the installation unwinds slowly. A man and a woman, Isaac and Ophelia (both 1999), lie on their backs with their hands drawn up to their chests. They might be in the deep relaxation of a yoga breathing exercise (a possibility consistent with their bare feet and his shorts, though not her shirtwaist dress), but they also recall medieval tomb sculptures. A woman in a dress and shoes lies on her stomach, pushing herself up with the palms of her hands, turning her head to the right with an expression of puzzlement or concern. She is titled Mia (MIA), 2000. The other two men could be different states of one person. Swan Dive (2001), a figure we see hovering on tiptoe on a pedestal, his arms flung wide and his tie fluttering over his shoulder, may moments later land on his back like Poor Paul (2000), who lies on the floor with one knee bent and his arms outstretched as if imploring.

The main implication of this group is damage. Ophelia in literature was a suicide, Isaac in the Bible was almost sacrificed. St. Paul fell off his donkey on the road to Damascus, and Mia may be missing in action. The man on the pedestal suggests Wall Street suicides of the Great Depression. This is the most recent piece, done since the technology stocks and dot-coms crashed. Trotman's furniture sculpture dealt with troubled relationships and identity issues; the new works seem equally fraught with spiritual, psychological or economic dilemmas. No attempt is made to conceal occasional cracks in the wood surfaces. Trotman must regard their flawed condition as symbolic.