Robert Ortbal Sculptor Drawings - Robert Ortbal Sculptor

# 61 - 2013, pencil, and watercolor on paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

# 50 - pencil and watercolor on rice paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

#35 -2012 – wax on paper, 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

#15 - 2012, pencil and watercolor on paper, 11 5/8 x 8 7/8

#37 - 2012, pencil and watercolor on paper - 8 7/8 x 11 5/8 – Frame 9 7/8 x 12 5/8

# 22 - 2012 - pencil, colored pencil on paper - 8 7/8 x 8 7/8

# 62, 2013, paint and flock on colored paper mounted on wood panel, 11.5 x 8.75,

#25 - 2012 -pencil and watercolor on paper - 8 7/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 9 7/8 x 9 7/8

# 32 - 2012, paint and flock on paper, 7 x 11.5

# 30 - 2012, collage, pencil and paint on paper, 5.5 x 8.5

# 60 - 2013, pencil, marker on paper - 8 7/8 x 11 5/8 – Frame 9 7/8 x 12 5/8

# 39 -2012 - paint, collage on paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

# 21 - paint and flock on paper, 8 7/8 x 8 7/8

# 51 – 2012, marker on rice paper – 7 x 7 Frame 8 x 8

# 36 - 2012, pencil, colored pencil, marker and watercolor on paper - 8 7/8 x 11 5/8 – Frame 9 7/8 x 12 5/8

# 53 - 2012, pencil and watercolor on paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

# 52 - 2012, pencil and watercolor on rice paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

# 48 – 2012, pencil and marker on paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

# 46 - 2012 - pencil, colored pencil on paper , 8 7/8 x 11 5/8 – Frame 9 7/8 x 12 5/8

# 45–2012, pencil and marker on paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

#38 -2012 – paint and colored pencil on paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 – Frame 12 5/8 x 9 7/8

# 29 - 2012 – wax and watercolor on paper, 11 5/8 x 8 7/8

# 28 -2012 - paint on paper, 8 7/8 x 8 7/8

# 31 - 2012, collage, pencil, paint and flock on paper, 5.5 x 8.5

# 29 – 2012 - paint and flock on paper, 11 5/8 x 8 7/8

# 33 - 2012 – paint and flock on paper, 11 5/8 x 8 7/8

#23 - 2012 – paint and colored pencil on paper - 11 5/8 x 8 7/8

Notes for the exhibition:

My work, essentially my thinking or language, takes place in the bending of a wire, the coating of a surface or the juxtaposition of forms. Working intuitively, I often begin where there is an urge, a feeling or a hunch; this could be that ineffable place before questions arise. No, less specific than a place or space, more of an atmosphere. Emptiness perhaps.

I seek a wisdom that sees or senses the complexity of our times with unsettling clarity. Often I liken my sculptures to complex systems where the interdependency of the parts is essential to the unity of the form. By collecting and recombining these polymorphic forms, I seek to mirror the collective energy of our everyday worlds. The result is an eccentric blend of organic and geometric abstraction spliced together with odd notions of decoration, imagery and language.

I have a keen interest in transforming the more didactic or structural impulses in the work, to soften them, to become more lyrical or poetic; not for the sake of visual or literary prowess, but to serve more as a link between what exists inside and out. This helps direct attention away from the more immediate or chemistry-side of things like the box, cup or atom, and lead us to the inside of things where only space exists.

It is this dog-eared paradox, the use of the corporeal to point the way towards emptiness, that I return to again and again. Surfaces continue to be an indispensible component of the sculptures having a catalytic effect when successfully combined with form.

Pattern serves as the focus for some works while stashed away in unlikely places for others, lending the show a cadence that re-enforces an interest in mysteries both real and symbolic.

Line has always been an essential element of my sculptures. I have reveled in the freedom of not connecting the dots on a plane to define a shape or develop a form --- and instead wander three-dimensionally through space, changing within the sculpture from line to shape to form, suggesting growth while building complexity.

For this exhibition, I have for the first time combined sculpture and drawings on paper to help question the primacy of an object. I have always been fascinated with the power of an object, that is why I make sculpture. Recently, fueled by interest in the writings of contemporary cosmologists, I started asking the question - is information more essential than the thing itself? Is the DNA more essential than the species? Are the blueprints more vital than the building? I don’t believe I have any clear answers to these questions; instead they have prompted me to explore my work and ideas two-dimensionally.

The works on paper can search out similar ideas contained in the sculpture. However, freed from gravity, marks on paper can explore notions like delicacy, and absence versus presence, from very different angles -- giving me access to a new set of questions, such as “Is this work more connected to matter or energy?” In turn, hopefully, this might enable us all to have more room inside ourselves.

Robert Ortbal
Sacramento, California
Winter 2013