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| 'Spirit Totems: Herb Alpert Sculpture 1995-2005' The exhibition "Spirit Totems: Herb Alpert Sculpture 1995-2005" at the Pasadena Museum of California Art will end its run on Sunday, April 2, 2006. One week before the show closes, PMCA will host an intimate talk with Herb Alpert on Monday, March 27. A rare opportunity to hear Alpert discuss his visual art, the program will be moderated by renowned art critic Peter Frank, who has written extensively on Alpert's work. Alpert's works have been dramatically displayed on PMCA's open-air sculpture terrace since mid-December, 2005. Also coming down in April are additional installations of Alpert's bronzes that have been on display at other area locations including Paseo Colorado and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium Plaza. Spirit Totems made their world premiere last fall in a six-week public exhibition at New York City's Bryant Park. Herb Alpert (b. 1935) has worked as a painter and sculptor for more than 30 years. His most recent body of work, Spirit Totems, is inspired by the totem poles of the Tlingit tribe in the Pacific Northwest. "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 embracing Los Angeles' multicultural influences, and in his art and his music, has always fused diverse cultural streams into fresh new forms. Alpert's discovery and development process for Spirit Totems involved the creation of hand-formed wax maquettes and smaller clay prototypes. The finished bronzes -- each weighing approximately 1, 000 pounds -- resonate with subtle color as a result of acid washes and oxide patinas. A legendary trumpeter, Herb Alpert is celebrated worldwide for his extraordinary music career -- with the Tijuana Brass, as a solo jazz and pop artist and as co-founder, with Jerry Moss, of A&M Records -- Alpert and Moss were just recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Alpert's career as a visual artist has paralleled his life in music for almost four decades. He began working as a painter in the mid-1960s after exploring art museums worldwide during his international touring with the Brass, and he started to make sculpture a few years later. In talking about his creative process, Herb Alpert describes the connection he feels between music and visual art. "It's like jazz. Art is a feeling. I like to journey into the world where words don't exist, " he says. "When I sculpt, I ... look for shapes and motion. My Spirit Totems represent a walk into an unknown world of total freedom ... Freedom that connects to my sense of jazz. A moment of connection to my deepest self." write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |