Woytuk In Kent

    The giant spider is a surprise.  The huge arachnid’s eight legs and abstract body are heavily oxidized a rusty reddish brown. Rough textured, like an abandoned car. And hulking. This not Louise Bourgeoise with her odd combination of lightness and menace. This is Peter Woytuk.

   Made in 1980 when Woytuk was only 22, the spider has finally been assembled 30 years later for Woytuk’s one-man show at Kent’s Morrison Gallery. With its 7,000 square feet of crisp, white space and clean lighting, the gallery is a perfect spot for a collection of mostly one-off pieces by the sculptor once anointed by The International Herald-Tribune as the greatest living sculptor of animals in the Western world, a title Woytuk shrugs off as ridiculous.

   Known for vaguely anthropomorphic sculptures of bulls and guinea hens, life-sized elephants and ravens, even fruits which seem to embody human characteristics, the sculptor is friendly and soft-voiced and eager to talk about the processes that allow him to cast both small and monumental pieces and finish them with soft, waxed patinas or hand-hammered textures.

   As Woytuk moved into ever larger pieces years ago, he became fascinated with the shapes and contours of his animals, especially when he began to think in groupings. Suddenly the relationship of each animal to the other — their positions and the spaces between them — became a single work to him. And he found the public beginning to interact with these groupings as single works, also.  His bulls in a Connecticut field, for example, have become a playground for visiting children.

   But big pieces — especially elephants and huge bulls — require foundries that can cast thousands of pounds of metal. And foundries that can give him the finishes he demands. He has found both in Thailand and China,where Woytuk now spends a big chunk of the year.

   At the Morrison, the sculptor is showing small and medium-sized pieces. On the front porch is a sizable hen, black and rough textured, finished by hours of pounding with a hammer and then waxed. Inside, one of Woytuk’s cherished ravens (he likes their personalities and liveliness) perches on a somewhat pear-shaped base; water gently spills over the top of the base into an unobtrusive catch basin.

   There is a large hen resting on a metal stand next to a tiny, baby hen on its own delicate stand.  Everywhere there are birds perched on apples in both natural and unnatural arrangements. Usually the apples are brightly colored—red, yellow, green—as if enameled.  In the best piece, however, Woytuk has “homogenizedâ€� the color, a sort of aged greenish brown, to emphasize form but has given the bird and the fruit different finishes.

   Then there are the small, cheerful pieces that simply beg to go home with you. My favorite is a classical wine cup — think Greece — with tiny birds perched around the rim in charming attitudes.  These are like miniatures capturing the artist’s major interests and techniques. But, of course, no bulls or elephants.

   And finally, as you enter or leave Old Barn Plaza, where the gallery is located, you’ll see a superb example of Woytuk’s anthropomorphism. Two caramel colored pears rest against each other, sinuous and erotic. The piece, in place for almost a year, has been sold to a Kentucky museum. Good for Woytuk and Morrison; too bad for us.

  Prices for these extraordinary pieces run from $1,000 to roughly $50,000.


     Peter Woytuk “Uniquesâ€� is at the Morrison Gallery, 8 Old Barn Road, Kent, through July 4.  Hours are Wed.-Sat., 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sun. 1-4 p.m.  Call (860) 927-4501.