2014

The brilliant red and rich black "Summertime Lady", is seen here on the patio of Rat’s Restaurant. The sleek, willowy figure in her clinging scarlet gown is abstracted to highlight the essence of feminine allure and sophistication. Hostetler’s oeuvre is devoted to the subject of women, honouing the female form and paying tribute to her mythological role as earth goddess. He has created works exclusively within the boundaries of this theme for over fifty years. In addition to his preference for realizing sculptures in carved exotic woods or cast bronze, this artist has created many monoprints, some of them studies for subsequent three-dimensional pieces.

Philip Grausman has risen to become one of the most well-acclaimed portrait sculptors of his time. Grausman’s portraits take on a realistic nature, giving life and personality to his figures. Large-scale Leucantha stands tall with a stoic persona. Grausman’s fine workmanship and choice of material, cast aluminum, gives Leucantha a silky complexion making her seem ageless – belonging to no specific period of time. The female head is carried gracefully on a muscled neck imparting inner strength and self-assuredness.

"The Pause," a life-scale bronze sculpture of a man filling his pipe, was cast by Seward Johnson in 1983.

Carole A. Feuerman (born in 1945) is an American artist and hyper-realistic sculptor. She currently lives and works in New York, New York. Feuerman is most known for her resin sculptures painted in oil, but she also utilizes other media such as bronze and stone. She developed a technique she calls "painting with fire" where she pours, splatters and splashes up to five different molten metals that are 2000 degrees in temperature. Most recently she has introduced photography and interactive video media as a component to her sculptural works. In "Employee Shower," Feuerman’s figure is caught up in the moment, and in the action of taking a shower. The figure is put on display for the audience and is oblivious to their presence. Feuerman states that the young employee is captured in a moment of relaxation after a long day of work. It is "as though the ‘Employees Only’ sign on the door of the bathroom is only a suggestion. Through the shared experience of the viewers, one woman’s private moment becomes a public testimonial to the calming and purifying abilities of water."

Seward Johnson is seen at his most ambitious in his tableau entitled "Were You Invited?" This is a take on Renoir’s lively 14-figure scene depicting "The Luncheon of the Boating Party." The sculptures are explicit in their texture and form. And, as with the other works in this series, the sculptor adds exploration of relationships within the boisterous crowd. Johnson hints at certain underlying imbroglios by showing a hand on a knee here, a touch beneath the table there. "At a party full of artists, there has to be something going on," says Johnson. Amid the bottles of champagne, wine and aperitifs are set bowls overflowing with fruit, and platters of French cheeses and foie gras. The characters are equally rich in sensuality and color, with embraces and secrets intermingling with the feast. Beyond the figures Renoir invited to the day’s events, Johnson has created an entire additional table of interlopers. These "crashers" are out of Renoir’s view but in the sculpture you discover them in full party spirit "drinking up all of Renoir’s wine," as Johnson notes. A sly segue is made by the sculptor using Renoir’s top hatted man who is turned away from the viewer. On close inspection it is New York City gallery director Phillip Bruno, who is turned facing a quartet of contemporary artists and brandishing a cane as if to drive them away. This group includes artist Seward Johnson and his friends and fellow sculptors Red Grooms, Bill Barrett and Andrew Pitynski. Surrounded by a table full of empty bottles, the foursome looks to be settled in for the duration with affectionate recognition toward the warning cane. The mood is one of exuberant celebration – perfectly in character with the personalities of the artists depicted.

A number of Johnson’s tableaus inspired by well-known nineteenth-century paintings are on view throughout Grounds for Sculpture. This work was inspired by Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 1875 painting, "Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise" ("The Rowers’ Lunch").