Robert

Fosdick

ROBERT FOSDICK

07-2-2006 -02-3-2006

This exhibition is a tribute to American artist Robert Fosdick, who died on Sunday 15 January 2006 in New York City at the age of 57.

Robert was a visionary thinker, an exceptional artist, and a long-time, personal friend and mentor. Characterized by a brilliant analytical and spiritual mind and an extraordinary generosity and kindness, yet complex and uncompromising in his beliefs and ways, Robert’s genuine thoughts and their translation into works of art opened up new worlds, new milky ways, new galaxies, for those who dared to look and listen.

Robert’s artistic practice evolved from his extensive studies of and occupation with optics, modern glass and metalworking technology, and theology:

“I wish to evoke an emotional or spiritual response from the viewer by constructing objects made from the most common machine-made parts, or to paraphrase the Jesuit theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: ‘Most theologies teach that Spirit is attained through the subjugation of matter, when, in fact, Spirit is attained most perfectly by the celebration of matter’.”

While his monochrome objects, which consist of several layers of specially fabricated tinted glass and mirrors, are designed to function as ‘interactive optical instruments’, his intimate, almost architectural, drawings are best seen as visual metaphors for these ’objects‘.

Robert’s works can be characterized as ‘haikus in light’. Triggering introspection and contemplation, they encourage us to face and transcend our innermost hopes, fears, and desires and to review and reevaluate our everyday actions, and – most importantly – they remind us to respect and celebrate life under any and all circumstances. Enamoring by their purity, grace, radiance, and autonomy, his works not only evidence his inspiring independence from the vogues and vanities of today’s ‘art world’, but continue to nurture body and soul long after the direct contact has taken place.

Petra Bungert and Tilman Brussels February 2006

related link: http://ccnoa.org/spip.php?auteur13