T. W. Wolff
Work includes gallery exhibits, original and commissioned paintings, murals, installations, photography, award-winning limited editions, sculpture, and restorations.
Clients include luminaries of Business and the Arts.
Current and future shows - competitions
Since 1993
Present work is directed toward a single theoretical object - referred to as the Icon. No religious or philosophical meaning is attached. “Icon” is simply a placeholder for a wordless object.
Work with this shape began decades ago, first in paintings then in sculpture. The form itself is simple: a bi-concave disk, reminiscent of a Mandala, expressed in three dimensions.
In this pursuit, the Icon is treated as a foundational object, as atoms serve matter in the Universe. A foundational object is a reference point. It may be varied, compounded, or divided. In the human sense, the foundational object is the human form - which begins as a template – a presumption of eyes, nose, mouth, arms, legs / wants, needs, hopes, fears, revulsion, love, spirituality. The individual is the expression of these features – physical and emotional – by addition or subtraction, in combination, tone, and depth. The template is only a mold. The result is person-hood. There are distinct qualities in the Icon form which lend it to these treatments, but it would be a distraction to imbue the concept with too much meaning. It is an empty vessel and its power resides in the lack of meaning. The challenge I make to myself is to explore meaning, then, in terms of contexts, using a theoretical shape as the reference point.
A commitment of this kind demands a constant learning curve of new methods and techniques. Artists typically express through the lens of medium. In this case, the subject is the lens, requiring work in many mediums, in deference to the demands of the subject, and the goal of the process. In an autobiographical sense, I am given to a panoramic view, and an obsessive exploration of methods and materials. For better or worse, the Icon series is a personal attempt to control and focus vision.
A universe of possibilities can be limiting in its overwhelm. A universe of one, properly imagined, is limitless.
