Blue Cowboy #2 (Rifleman), 2008
reinforced cast fiberglass composite and pigmented resin
75 x 60 x 22 inches
edition of 3 + 2 APs reserved for Museums and Exhibition purposes
Courtesy of the artist and Mark Moore Gallery
The Israeli-born artist Yoram Wolberger was recently featured by Time Out New York as one of the top artists at the Brooklyn Museum. Wolberger has several pieces on display at the Brooklyn Museum. Using 3D printing techniques, Wolberger recreates life-size versions of the mass produced toys of our youth, paying special attention to recreate the seams, indistinct features, and contouring “fins” that mark the injection-molded manufacturing process of these beloved trinkets. Wolberger’s MFA from the New Genres Department of the San Francisco Art Institute has provided a strong base for the use of new technology and specifically the relatively new technology of 3D printing, which he uses to shed new light on old and traditional toys.
Introspection of Childhood Memories
Soldier Portrait #1, 2015
resin cast
20 x 10 x 10 in Edition of 3
Courtesy of the artist and Mark Moore Gallery
How often do you stop to think about how small details of your childhood–like a baseball trophy or a toy soldier–impacted the adult you have become? Wolberger persuades us to consider the effects these small tokens have on our lives by putting them front and center. By expanding these small figurines to the size of six-foot statues, the inconsistencies of the figurines that were once barely noticeable are now an integral part of the statue’s presentation. These everyday objects suddenly have poignant and even subconscious meanings. Wolberger encourages us to look deep within ourselves to determine what these figures mean to us.
Take, for example, the toy soldier. When you were a child, perhaps you played with toy soldiers and took comfort in staging many small victories. The toy soldier was so small and our memories are so old that most of us don’t think about the deeper symbolism inherent in an individual toy soldier. However, if you were to walk into the Brooklyn Museum of Art and see the toy soldier had increased in size a hundredfold, what would occur to you as an adult? What does the toy soldier say about the balance of power between genders? Or the utilitarianism of patriotism in a culture that emphasizes individuality? Or the lines of humanization and dehumanization created by the “Us/Them” paradigm? The imperfections of Wolberger’s pieces encourage us to reflect upon how these seemingly unimportant knickknacks actually play a huge role in shaping our worldviews.
The Brooklyn Museum
Yoram Wolberger’s works have been collected as part of the Brooklyn Museum’s permanent collection. The Brooklyn Museum is Brooklyn’s premier art museum, with approximately 1.5 million works in its collection. This makes the Brooklyn Museum the second largest art museum in New York, followed only by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can visit the Brooklyn Museum to view paintings, sculptures, drawings and more spanning 5,000 years of art history.
Keep up with our blog for the latest art news.
Questions? Call Patty Barnett at 504.524.2922
Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and share with your friends.