David Orth

Descent

Bronze sculpture

Artist Statement: This sculpture, titled ‘Descent,’ is something about the Incarnation – and by analogy the inner conflict and realignment this event implies for us as a community, as individuals. It is a partial expression, not whole, not well defined – experimental. But hopefully it is direct – as far as it goes.

For some reason I cannot say, I am sometimes driven to get down to some sense of immediate essence – perhaps a tone or quality of movement more than a recognizable image. And, while my forms often congeal out of brief, involuntary moments I would call worship, they often involve some hard element of rude awakening. How can that be beauty – or holiness? I will appeal to Rilke in this case. “For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror which we are barely able to endure, and it amazes us so, because it serenely disdains to destroy us. Every angel is terrible.”

Bio: American sculptor working in several genres - residential furniture, public sculpture, alternative liturgical, and funerary objects. Works broadly with functional, sculptural, and ceremonial objectives. Orth works primarily in wood, steel, and bronze. James A. Mangum, author of the Dos Cruces Trilogy has called Orth’s work “Amazing, overwhelming, musical. Rock and roll, the blues, arias.” Designer Sandy Hill says the work has “wonderful, mess-with-your-mind appeal.”
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