Steeped in color: Carved, Wood Sculpture

Bauermeister’s home and sculpture studio is an old general store on the banks of the Missouri, one of the last buildings standing in a town abandoned since the 30’s, when after repeated fl oodings, the town’s people gave up and moved on. He creates his work on land loaned from the river, in the quiet of a place forgotten. Patina is proud to host this second solo exhibition of Michael Bauermeister’s work. 

Last year the Smithsonian Museum’s Renwick Gallery acquired Buckeye, a Bauermeister work from his “Stone” series. Works by the artist are also in the permanent collections of the Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, in Mesa, Arizona and the University of Michigan Museum, in Ann Arbor. 

Bauermeister’s signature wood sculptures are often columnar, broad at the top and tapering to the base. They can range in height from two, to more than eight feet. These powerful forms are infused with energy and still project a spirit of calm, of energy wisely expressed and contained. 

“One idea feeds into the next…I like change but don’t feel that I need to reinvent the wheel.” One sees clearly the relationship of old work to the new. The tone evolves quietly, in small ways and remains familiar. Given the strength of that tone and the continuous and satisfying variations of theme, each piece offers something fresh and different from the others. 

A recent trip to Seattle has inspired new work that evokes the essence of moving water, an undulating mass of swells and dips, with a hewn, dappled surface, pigmented with myriad shades of blue. Other wall-mounted pieces explore figurative subjects and suggest stained glass from the Nouveau period. 

Having committed his life to making art, Bauermeister works constantly, enjoying the physicality of the work and its meditative nature. He selects local woods, cut down by the parks department and landscapers. Any milled wood comes from a local sawmill, opened recently, just outside St Louis. Bauermeister’s excited about some elm burl and especially some maple he found there. “It has a beautiful coloration, blue streaks. They’re called domestic exotic because these woods have become so rare.” Rare, too, is the beauty of his work, towering, washed in beautiful pigments, steeped in color. 


A reception will be held at Patina on April 4, from 5:30 until 7:30. Bauermeister will attend.