“This sculpture always brightens my day. I pass it every morning on my way to class and it always manages to put me in a good mood”

–WWU Sophomore

About the Artist

The renowned sculpture artist, Tom Otterness, was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1952. At the very young age of eighteen, the aspiring artist chose to follow his dreams and he made the move out to New York City to pursue his passion for the arts. In 1970, Tom began his studies at Arts Students League, and in 1973 he decided to take part in the Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art. There, he immersed himself into the world of creativity and learned a vast amount about himself as an artist. His education helped shape him into the polished and whimsical artist he is today. 

In 1977, Otterness surrounded himself with a multitude of innovative thinkers and joined Collaborative Projects, a trailblazing community of determined artists. Tom was given a leading role in coordinating Colab’s 1980 Times Square Show. This show was one of the very first avant-garde, works that are experimental, revolutionary, or unconventional, shows of the ‘80s. Today, Otterness still resides in New York and continues to create captivating and quizzical art pieces at his studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn, in New York City. Otterness’ style is often praised for being cartoonish, childlike, and cheerful. Although Tom’s sculptures are disarmingly cute, there often underlies a deeper meaning or theme to all his pieces. Irresistibly adorable, his characters mock and poke fun at societal groups. His sculptures are bound to leave you in wonder and with a strange sense of fulfillment.

“I always love rubbing the heads of the little green dudes as I walk by between classes, especially on days when I have a test; they give me good luck!” – WWU Junior

About the Work

As weird as it may seem, Tom’s inspiration for his classic bronze figures comes from what imagining what his mom is like when angry. This gave him his original sketch from which he then made a wire armature to mold clay around to get the shape of the figure. After finishing the clay model, he hired an art foundry to replicate the clay but with bronze. Tom’s figures are treated with patina to speed up and control the way the bronze changes color with time. They are then hand-waxed and polished and ready for the public. One of the reasons Tom loves using bronze for his sculptures is that he loves his sculptures to be touched, and the areas of bronze that are touched most are the most bright and polished, showing the ways in which people physically interact with his sculptures.

“These sculptures are so cute!!!” –WWU Freshman

Otterness’ signature bronze figures in Feats of Strength are used in many of his works around the world, each serving a unique purpose within their installation, from the NYC subway, to the Netherlands and South Korea. Each installation, while having a unique message to the site, has an underlying theme of analyzing class, particularly under capitalism. There is much more to Feats of Strength, however, as its location and context give it a much broader meaning. The piece is nestled amongst another outdoor sculpture, an installation of the San Juan Islands, making it feel more local, and grounded in its space, piggybacking off the feelings we already have towards the San Juan Islands as a location as well as an idea. As Tom is heavily influenced by punk culture, the installation is meant to catch the passerby’s eye to shake the sense of complacency out of them to feel connected to and observe their surroundings and all its interactions. He chooses such a heavily trafficked area of campus as a means of generating conversation, whatever conversation/topic that it may spur. In many ways, the sculptures are a perfect representation of college life. Much like college, Feats of Strength is in a constant balancing act of trying to support boulders that are larger than yourself with having time to still relax and kick your feet up.

From Another Perspective…

Viewing art from someone else’s point of view can give pieces new meaning or a better insight of what the artist was trying to portray. These simple drawings created by a variety of different artists allow the audience see Otterness’ whimsical creations from a whole new perspective. The contrast and the visual weight of the sculptures are hard to see in real life, but the thick, distinctive lines and the tension seen in the 2D representations bring the work of art to its full realization.

Artist E: In Tom’s Feats of Strength, the dichotomy between the urban and natural is put on display as the two are entirely connected to one another, both physically and not. I wanted to further highlight these different realms by leaving one (the natural, the rock) void of everything but an outline to serve as a stark contrast to the shaded figure holding it. The shading of the figure also represents all of the different colors and how they blend together in the aging bronze.

Artist M: These figurines are so fun and almost childlike, but as adorable as these bronze figurines are they are so easily lost within the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I wanted to bring Otterness’ whimsical figurines away from their hectic surroundings and onto a blank canvas with his work as the sole focus. Through my visual representation I hoped to allow the audience a new insight into the mind of the great sculptor: Tom Otterness.

Artist H: I chose this figurine to draw because of the way she commands attention to herself by holding such a huge rock. This is the figurine that was noticeable to me. The title of this piece is Feats of Strength and I feel like this part of the piece really embodies the title.

Acknowledgements

Photography- Hannah Asmussen & Madison Colvin

Research- Hannah Asmussen, Madison Colvin, and Elliott Niven

2D Representations- Hannah Asmussen, Madison Colvin, and Elliott Niven

Contributor- Hannah Asmussen