ST. LOUIS, MO.- Laumeier Sculpture Park, in conjunction with St. Louis Lambert International Airport, announces the opening of a new exhibition in the Lambert Gallery, All Shapes and Sizes: Ernest Trovas Legacy at Laumeier Sculpture Park, November 15, 2017May 14, 2018. The exhibition is curated by Dana Turkovic. The Lambert Gallery is located in Terminal 1 baggage claim near the Concourse C exit.
All Shapes and Sizes is a careful selection of 35 maquettes and a series of silkscreen prints spanning 15 years, drawn from Laumeiers extensive Ernest Trova collection. The local artists gift of 40 artworks, with an estimated market value of approximately one million dollars, to St. Louis County in 1976 helped to bring Laumeier Sculpture Park to life. With many of Trovas large-scale, sculptural works displayed throughout the Park and the region, his legacy continues to thrive in the local arts community.
Ernest Tino Trova was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 19, 1927, and died on March 8, 2009. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Trova was among the most widely acknowledged sculptors working in the United States, resulting in invitations to exhibit in three Whitney Museum Biennials, three Venice Biennales, Documenta 4 in Kassel, Germany (1968) and the Guggenheim Museum, among many other national and international museums. Trova considered his entire artistic output to be a single work in progress; his body of work is beautifully illustrated in these small-scale, sculptural maquettes and works on paper that began the formation of Laumeiers Permanent Collection.
The creative process by which Trova approached his stainless-steel and bronze artworks is in concert with his creative philosophy. This particular collection highlights Trovas tendency to initiate a formal concept in two dimensions before expanding into the third and the fourth. The maquettes are selected from his Gox, Abstract Variation, Poets and Falling Man series, as well as a series of small, experimental metal works in abstract compositions.
This exhibition presents the first iteration of a collection of largely unseen artworks that represent Trovas creative process for sculptures that are still on view at Laumeier and throughout the region, said Dana Turkovic, Laumeier Sculpture Park Curator. Laumeier is pleased to present these miniature sculptures to the community of tourists that use St. Louis Lambert International Airport as a portal to St. Louiss many cultural gems, and to introduce our visitors to an important local artist and his influence on public art throughout the city.