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| 'Totems,' Six Bronze Sculptures by Herb Alpert Music icon and visual artist Herb Alpert (b. 1935) will debut "Totems, " a showing of six monumental cast bronze sculptures, in a six-week public exhibition at New York City's Bryant Park. Ranging in height from eight to twelve feet, the Totems have traveled from Alpert's Malibu, CA studio for installation in mid-town Manhattan. Installation of the oversized pieces will commence on Wednesday night, October 5 at 9pm, at the Park's northwest corner, near the petanque courts by 6th Avenue and 42nd Street. Alpert was inspired to create his "Totems" series after visiting the Totem Sculpture Garden in Vancouver, B.C.'s famous Stanley Park. "The tribes of Indians who lived in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska created a new language of art that I related to, " he said. Alpert, who is of Russian-Romanian decent, grew up in Los Angeles embracing its multicultural influences. In his art and his music, Alpert fuses diverse cultural streams into fresh new forms. Alpert's discovery and development process for his Totem sculptures involves the creation of hand-formed wax maquettes and smaller clay prototypes. The finished monumental bronze castings -- each weighing approximately 1, 000 pounds -- resonate with subtle color as a result of acid washes and oxide patinas applied to the castings. "Totems" officially opens with a gala artist reception at Bryant Park's Northwest corner near 42nd street on Thursday, October 20 from 5-7pm, and the exhibition runs through mid-November. A legendary trumpeter, Herb Alpert is renowned worldwide for his extraordinary music career -- with the Tijuana Brass, as a solo jazz and pop artist, and as co-founder of A&M Records. His career as a visual artist has paralleled his life in music for over three decades. After discovering abstract painting in art museums that he visited during his international touring with the Brass, Alpert began to paint in the late 1960s and to make sculpture a few years later. His bold, abstract expressionist style expresses organic forms with an intuitive fluidity. In talking about his creative process, Alpert describes the connection he feels between music and visual art. Acknowledging its mystery in creating the "Totems, " he says, "It's like jazz. Art is a feel. I like to journey into the world where words don't exist..." Each Totem evokes a chain or a phrase, which, like a Miles Davis solo, is distinctive and monumental. "The connection between music and sculpting is perfect...When I sculpt, I move wax or clay around and look for shapes and motion...My Totems represent a walk into the unknown world of my total freedom...Freedom that connects to my sense of jazz. A moment of connection to my deepest self." In addition to his artistic pursuits, Herb Alpert and his wife, GRAMMY® award winning singer Lani Hall Alpert, oversee the private, non-profit Herb Alpert Foundation. Established in the early 1980s, the Foundation makes significant annual contributions to a range of programs in the fields of art and education. In their philanthropy, the Alperts seek to support areas which they believe have great possibility for bringing young people the tools and wisdom to develop their potential to lead positive, fulfilling lives. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |