Introduction of crouching man sculpture
This is a bronze crouching man sculpture by Kevin Pettelle. It features a bald, nude man kneeling with his hands on the ground, in a crouch. He rests his head on his knees. He appears meditative. This statue has a gold patina and rests on a tall black pyramid-shaped base.
From the artist
What inspired you to create this sculpture? My mind and eye are drawn like a magnet to ‘round’. It seems that all things in the universe, from largest to smallest can be reduced to round. I discovered after many years of reflecting on how the symbols that my work represent themselves to me, I view the male as an ‘earth’ form, bound to the laws of the terrestrial. The female form on the other hand represents the ethereal, aspiration, inspiration and is not bound by those laws of nature. Where this comes from I don’t know but some how it has become a reoccurring theme for me. One of the things that most attracts me to Crouching Man is all that round he formed from.
How did this project progress in its development? Starting as a 4” maquette and before the introduction of digital tools, was enlarged by hand plywood, steel and water clay, a classic sculpting material that is surprisingly foreign to me. But, I thought, I’d give it a another try. My method is slow and the clay requires fast. So he stood in the corner of my studio for some time untouched. I encouraged by an apprentice to finish it by any means necessary. I made a plaster piece mold from the now hardened clay and restarted the sculpture in plasticine, a wax- based clay that doesn’t dry out and one that I had worked with from a very early age. With the sculpture now in a material that was as patient as I was in my slow meticulous methods, Crouching Man finally completed
How did the use of color, texture, form, and environment help to accomplish the mission?
I use a 2-color patina on most all my work. The 1st coat is a dark brown to black, scrubbed back then adding the warm brown for the final bronze color. The patina is tricky and the method I have seen in no other place. The patina accentuates the form and details of the sculpture while allowing the glow of the bronze of shine through. The smooth surface amplifies these features and lends itself to the soft tactile quality of the metal.
What will you express for the crouching man sculpture?
Compressed strength, coiled tension, on the verge of explosion. Or the opposite: A protective cocoon with all focus directed inward. Crouching Man is a reference to that silent point in between.
