Bob Trotman, business as usual

the long version

As the catalogue that accompanies an exhibition of the same name, "Bob Trotman: Business as Usual" contextualizes the development of Trotman's caustic sculptures over the last decade. Bitingly critical of institutional and political power, Trotman's wooden sculptures draw on the tradition of the often larger-than-life statues outside old cigar shops and the figureheads on ships' bows. The artist's practice of painting these wooden figures also recalls the medieval tradition of wooden religious statues, and with this connection he simultaneously deifies and lambastes contemporary wielders of power such as businessmen and politicians. Using the vernacular of these so-called show figures, Trotman's work reveals the elaborate posturing of wielders of power, privilege, and pretense that secretly, or not so secretly, shape the world we live in. Exhibition: Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson, North Carolina, USA (19.10. - 08.12.2017).