Bob Trotman

Bob Trotman

Bob
Trotman

b. 1947       STUDIO IN CASAR, NC

Southern Region of USA
Bob Trotman’s carved wooden sculpture, Shaker, seems to address you directly: a more than life-sized man reaches out, forcefully offering his right hand in a gesture of greeting. Shown only from the chest up, the figure slowly rotates atop a pedestal, never pausing to complete the meaningful engagement that the handshake might imply. In the man’s clockwise rotation, too, the back of his hand reaches the viewer first; you’re just as likely to be backhanded as greeted. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, precipitated in part by white-collar misconduct, Trotman’s spinning figure— outfitted in suit and tie—presents the very face of backroom deals and flip-flopping loyalties. Trotman’s work is often inspired by literary theater like Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot or David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. His self-taught approach calls on a long history of wood carving, and his recent explorations in movement—of which Shaker is an example—respond to folk traditions of moveable figures in wood like marionettes or the animatronic figures in clocks. The artist updates this time-honored approach with immediate references to issues that affect our everyday lives.

I describe this work as corporate purgatory. I’m trying to look at American capitalism, working with literary sources like Death of a Salesman, dystopian examinations of the business world, and also with the fact that my parents would have liked for me to be one of them.

Bob Trotman