NYAB Event - Wendy Klemperer "Waxing Wild"

Wendy Klemperer "Waxing Wild"

Storefront Ten Eyck

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Wendy Klemperer's lifelong fascination with animals drives an ongoing study of their action and behavior in photos, in film, and in actual life. While primarily known for large scale, outdoor installations of gestural animal forms sketched in welded steel, Klemperer's exhibition at Storefront Bushwick reveals another aspect of her work--small wax and resin sculptures. Related to the plastic toys that acted in her childhood dramas, these pieces explore gesture and emotion on an intimate scale.

The artist is attracted to the lifelike texture of wax because of its complexity and beauty. Layered colors and subtle textures build the form and explore the painterly side of sculpture. The surface is a living skin, with varied thicknesses, pierced and broken here and there, allowing glimpses of the interior. After much trial and error, Klemperer developed a process that allowed her to preserve this delicate medium, melting white microcrystalline wax in a pot and adding paint, then pouring out thin sheets to create a palette of different colors. The artist models the wax at room temperature like clay, building it hollow in colored layers over a simple wire armature. Using a propane torch to heat basic tools (a spoon, a butter knife), Klemperer carves and melts the surface and blends colors. When finished, the surface is brushed with a clear urethane resin for a hard, protective coating. While based on a knowledge of animal anatomy, the work evolves beyond naturalism as the artist uses three-dimensional color to work at the intersection of painting and sculpture.

Wendy Klemperer earned a bachelor's in biochemistry at Harvard before moving to NYC to pursue art full time, earning a B.F.A. in sculpture at Pratt Institute in 1983. She has received residency grants from the Skowhegan School, The MacDowell Colony, The Ucross Foundation, and Sculpture Space in Utica, NY. Her work has been exhibited extensively in NYC and throughout the United States, including installations at Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; Bridgewater-Lustberg Gallery, NY, NY; Pratt Institute Sculpture Park, Brooklyn, NY; DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA; Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT; as well as comprehensive solo shows at Maine Audubon, Freeport, and Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, organized by June LaCombe. Her large scale, permanent installations include: Portland International Jetport, ME; 560 Broadway in NYC; Lay Sculpture Park in Missouri; Somersby Landing Sculpture Park in Newburyport, MA; California State University, Bakersfield; Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens, Boothbay; the LL Bean Company, Freeport, Maine; and SIAS University, Xinzheng, China. Klemperer teaches welded sculpture at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn, NY, and at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Ctr in West Rutland, VT. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, and Nelson, NH.