Tom Burr

The Sculpture Center is an interesting building, renovated from an old trolley repair station.  It was here that they featured many of Tom Burr's newest sculptures.  His basic forms are the building blocks that transform into characteristic objects that for me take on a narrative quality.  For example, he used many long wooden slabs that were pieced together in a way that on a basic level suggested the human form, then added to it by placing personal items around and on them.  Sometimes they would face each other, suggesting an interaction and inviting a closer inspection of the items or surface treatment involved in giving these forms human qualities.  One was placed in a smaller white room by itself, and had a straight jacket draped over it under bright lamp light.  The atmosphere created by this placement of objects and personified forms was effective, and for me evoked a sense of unfinished narrative.  It was as if you were stepping into a scene that was permanently on pause, in limbo.