"Inventive",
"humorous", "mysterious", "funky" and "fanciful" are a few of the
many colorful adjectives used to describe Stewart's work. As
critics have long noted, his totemic (usually black and white)
figures, brilliantly realized in the commission for the Greater
Rochester International Airport recall archaeological and
mythological associations with primitive cultures. At same time,
these moody works reflect contemporary trends in art, as well as
current social/cultural interests in body decoration, whether
piercing, tattooing or scarification. If these
"primitive" works (or "creatures) as one critic noted) seem to
emerge from a darkened cavern within the artist's imagination,
other imagescartoon-like landscape. Brilliant color,
expressive forms and whimsical characters that would feel at home
in the circuses and "fun-zones" of our youth, or with The Beatles
in The Yellow Submarine, characterize this playful
work.
Stewart's
sculpture draws from both popular and primitive
cultures. They also reflect the artist's immersion in
some of the most interesting, if lesser known, art historical
movements of the twentieth-century. The brilliant palettes and
expressive, distorted forms of Karel Appel and the CoBrA group come
to mind. And, certainly, they share a common interest
in folk art, children's art and primitive art. Closer to home, is
the so-called Bay Area "Funk Art" movement of the
1960s--humorous, pop-oriented and irreverent in spirit.
-Grant Holcomb,
Director,Memorial Art Gallery/University of Rochester
Bill Stewart
is Professor Emeritus at the State University College of New York
at Brockport. This ceramic sculpture measures 6.5" high, 9" wide
(ear to ear) and 5.5" front to back. It also functions as a
candleholder for a standard pillar candle.
