Seated Man - Hyde Park
Seated Man - Hyde Park
Artist
David Bates
(born 1952)
Date1997-1998
MediumPainted wood
Dimensions38 1/2 in. × 17 1/4 in. × 22 in. (97.8 × 43.8 × 55.9 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of David and Jan Lee Bates and Arthur Roger, 2014.7
Accession number
2014.7
On View
Not on viewLabel TextIn this work, David Bates tackles a very traditional subject matter - the seated male figure - but offers a unique take on this from through his use of materials. The partially painted wood scraps reference folk-art traditions. They also recall the artist’s paintings, which use heavy lines and angular forms. In his sculptures, Bates assembles relatively flat elements to create a fully three-dimensional object.
The artist embraces the irregular shapes and imperfections of his material. The resulting object is a balancing act between abstraction and representation. Similar to the way John Chamberlain manipulates car parts into an abstract sculpture, in Seated Man- Hyde Park, Bates combines various pieces from other objects to produce a final artwork.
