34 years! (707) 933-1300 info@sculpturesite.com
34 years! (707) 933-1300 info@sculpturesite.com
Steve Tobin is an American sculptor best known for his beyond monumental sculptures of Roots in steel or cast bronze. Trained in mathematics, Tobin has always pushed the physical boundaries of the sculptural materials he chose to work with: he made blown glass pieces too tall to stand (but they finally stood); he created 40’ tall glass waterfalls; he made his huge clay sculptures explode, revealing geode-like brightly colored glass inside. And again and again, he went back to nature for inspiration, to take molds of giant termite hills in Ghana, cast into bronze sculptures as high as 20’, or of the forest floors to make his Earth Bronzes. Tobin's monumental Steelroots, using large industrial steel pipes with painstakingly welded joints, explore the archetypal relationship between humans and nature. More recently, Tobin has created a series of highly reflective stainless steel clouds, bringing the sky down to earth, and a series of bird nests in many sizes, from miniature to monumental, in cast bronze twigs or welded steel, that hold precious eggs in stainless steel or bronze: the beginning of life.
"The Steelroots series is a natural evolution of my Earth Bronzes series. In moving from bronze to steel I have moved from naturalist to the modernist tradition. The metaphor of roots remains the same as with the bronze, but by taking direct from life casting out and replacing it with formed steel the pieces are much more alive, animated. The roots evoke communities, families, unseen power, networks all coming together for a shared purpose. They gather energy and send it upward in support of the “tree” that is not visually apparent. The curvilinear geometries between the roots frame the view creating landscapes in the negative spaces that ebb and flow as the viewer moves around and under the piece. The legs are anthropomorphic, suggesting images of people dancing or huddling together in embrace and collusion. They create a sense of gathering. Juxtaposed with the buildings of San Francisco they will be fantastic organic root gods protecting and animating the space they occupy as well as the spaces viewed in between and around the sculpture. This follows my previous public exhibition in New York, in which the juxtaposition of insect architecture, i.e. my bronze African Termite Mounds, against the magnificent backdrop of the American Museum of Natural History, and the suggestion of frantic activity in their simultaneous placement at the mouth of a subway station in Montefiore Park in Harlem (termites scurrying about in an orderly fashion in their hive vs. subway riders underground), evokes feelings of humanity’s connection with the natural world."
Solo Exhibitions & Installations
2018 Steelwaters, 5th Shanghai Jing’An International Sculpture Project (JISP), Shanghai, China
2016–PRESENT Installation, San José Museum of Art, San José, CA
2016–PRESENT Steve Tobin: Cocoon Awakenings, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
2016–2017 Steve Tobin: Southern Roots, Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, Nashville, TN
2016–2017 Steelroots, 4th Shanghai Jing’An International Sculpture Project (JISP), Shanghai, China
2015–2016 Exposed: The Secret Life of Roots, United States Botanic Gardens, Washington, D.C.
2014–2016 Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs, CA. Installation
2014 Out of this World: Works by Steve Tobin, James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA
2014 Steve Tobin: Roots, Museum of Art–Deland, Deland, FL
2013 Roots on 7, Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
2012 Aerial Roots, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ [catalogue]
2012 Exposed Roots, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, Vail, CO
2011-2012 Steve Tobin’s Natural History, Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples FL
2011 Touching Earth & Sky, Minneapolis Landscape Arboretum, University of Minnesota, Chaska, MN
2010 Steelroots, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
2010 Steelroots, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL
2010 Steelroots, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
2009 Steelroots, Calgary, Canada. Permanent public installation
2009 Steelroots, Chicago, IL. Public installation
2008 Steelroots, The Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL
2008 Weeds in the Garden, Fordhook Farm of the W. Atlee Burpee Co, Doylestown, PA. Installation
2008 Steelroots, Kouros Gallery, New York, New York
2007 Steelroots, 40 Years of Art in the Parks, New York Department of Parks and Recreation, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY [catalogue]
2007 Cocoons, installation, Philadelphia International Airport, PA
2007 Steelroot, Sculpturesite Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006 Steve Tobin Paintings, OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Exploded Earth, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
2006 Steel roots, Kouros Sculpture Center, Ridgefield, CT
2005 Trinity Root, 9.11 memorial, Wall Street & Broadway ,permanent, New York, NY
2005 Steve Tobin Paintings, The Banana Factory; Bethlehem, PA
2005 Earth Bronzes and New Nature, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay Harbor, ME
2004 Roots, Laumeier Sculpture Park; St. Louis, MissouriRoots, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL
2003 Lantern House, Portland Museum of Art; Portland, ME
2003 Earth Bronzes, College of the Atlantic; Bar Harbor, ME
2003 Earth Bronzes, Florida International University, permanent, Miami, FL
2002-2003 Tobin’s Naked Earth, George C. Page Museum, La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, CA
2002-2003 Tobin’s Naked Earth, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, CA
2002 Lantern House, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
2001-2002 Earth Bronzes, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
2001 Earth Bronze Trilogy - Part I, Buschlen-Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2000-2001 Earth Bronzes, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
2000 Earth Bronzes, Montefiore Park; West Harlem, NY
1999-2001 Cocoons, Corning Museum of Glass, Sculpture Gallery, Corning, NY
1998 Earth Bronzes, Fuller Museum of Art, catalog, Brockton, MA
1998 Earth Bronzes, OK Harris Gallery, catalog, New York, NY
1998 Earth Bronzes, artetindustries, New York, NY
1997 Broadway River, New York University, Broadway Windows, New York, NY
1996 Matzoh House, Gallery B.A.I., New York, NY
1995 Steve Tobin: Reconstructions, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
1995 Peyton Wright Gallery; Santa Fe, New Mexico
1995 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1994 Sanske Gallery; Zurich, SwitzerlandHabatat Gallery Boca Raton, FL
1993 Steve Tobin at Retretti, Retretti Art Center, catalog, Punkaharju, Finland
1992 Steve Tobin, Transformations: Three Installations in Glass, Lehigh University,Wilson and Hall Gallery, catalog, Bethlehem, PA
1990 Steve Tobin, Sanske Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
1989 Cocoons, Holsten Galleries, Palm Beach, FL
1988 Steve Tobin: The Glass Garden, Moore College of Art and Design, Levy Gallery for the Arts, catalog, Philadelphia, PA
1987 Dream Glass, Axis Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1987 Glass for Tea Ceremony, Tazawa Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
1986 Wheaton Ware, LaVaggi Gallery, New York, NY
1985 Manhattan Bowls, Synderman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1982 Glass Sculpture, Gallery 10, New York, NY
1980 Glass Portraits, Hanson Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1980 Glasscapes, Spring Street Enamels Galery, New York, NY
1979 Sculptured Glass, Bienville Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Group Exhibitions & Installations
2014 Vanitas, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2008 Retrospective of the Permanent Collection, inaugural exhibition in the Museum of Art and Design (formerly American Craft Museum), Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
2007 Shattering Glass: New Perspectives, The Katonah Museum of Art, catalog, Katonah, NY
2005-2007 Earth Bronzes, Spring/Summer 2005, Grounds for Sculpture, catalog, Hamilton, NJ
2005 El Bosque (The Forest), Federico Silva Sculpture Museum park; San Luis Potosi, Mexico
2000 Roots, Vancouver International Sculpture Project, catalog, Vancouver, Canada
2000 Exploded Clay with Glass Riverbed, Americans in Venice Exhibition, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
1994 Waterworks, Palm Beach Community Museum; Palm Beach, FL
1994 Alene Lapides Gallery; Santa Fe, NM
1994 Robert Morris Gallery; New York, NY
1993 Glass Installations, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
1993 From Our Vault, Wustum Museum; Racine, WI
1991 Le Verre, Lespace Duchamp Villion, Rouen, France
1990 Glass Doesn’t Grow in the Forest, St. Augustine Chapel, Belgium
1989-1993 Glass America, Heller Gallery, New York, NY
1986 New American Glass Focus 2, Huntington Museum of Art; Huntington, WV
1983 South Glass, Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, Roanoke, VA
1979 Louisiana Glass, Alexandria Museum, Alexandria, LA
Selected Permanent Collections
American Center; Helsinki, Finland
American Craft Museum; New York, NY
American Glass Museum; Millville, NJ
American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
American Museum of Glass, Millville, NJ
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
City of Calgary, Canada
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, ME
Coca-Cola Corporation; Atlanta, GA
Finair; Helsinki, Finland
Florida International University, Miami, FL
Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL
Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, Naples, FL
Gratz College; Philadelphia, PA
James A. Michener Museum of Art, Doylestown, PA
J’ing’An Sculpture Project (JISP), Shanghai, China
Karl Stirner Arts Trail, Easton, PA
King Faisal’s Palace; Saudi Arabia
Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO
Lehigh University Museum of Art, Lehigh, PA
Lowe Art Museum; Miami, FL
Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA
Musee des Arts Decoratifs; Lausanne, Switzerland
Museum of American Glass, Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville, NJ
Museum of Art and Design (MAD), New York, NY
Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA
National September 11 th Memorial and Museum, New York, NY
New Orleans Museum of Art; New Orleans, LA
Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art; Philadelphia, PA
Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinis College; Collegeville, PA
Retretti Museum; Punkaharju, Finland
State Museum; Harrisburg, PA
The Sculpture Foundation Collection
Stephane Janssen Collection; Phoenix, AZ and Santa Fe, NM
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
The White House Permanent Art Collection; Washington, D.C.
Education
1979 Tulane University, B.S. Mathematics
Press and other Media
Smithsonian magazine, feature story, June 2004
Newsweek, feature, November 2000
National Geographic magazine, feature, August 2005
The Philadelphia Inquirer, feature, November 2000
Town & Country magazine, feature, special travel issue, April 2010
New York Metro, feature, September 2005
NY Newsday, image with caption, September 2005
Chicago Tribune, feature, April 2010
Chicago Daily Herald, feature, April 2010
New York Times, feature (Roberta Smith), July 2001
Celebrated Living magazine (for American Airlines premium class passengers), feature, Summer 2010
People magazine, feature, June 1998
Sculpture magazine, feature, March 2001
New York Times, feature (Kelly Crow), November 2000
Philadelphia Inquirer, feature, July 2005
Natural History magazine (AMNH), photo with caption, May 2001
Huffington Post, feature, April 2013
Glass magazine, cover story, Winter 1996
Los Angeles Times, feature, October 2002
The New York Sun, photo with caption, September 2005
The Morning Call, feature, 1996
The Philadelphia Inquirer, feature, May 1998
Chicago Tribune, feature, May 2004
Ceramics Monthly, cover story, March 2001
The Philadelphia Inquirer, feature, November 2000
Chicago Tribune, feature, April 2010
The Battery Park City Broadsheet, photo with caption, September 2005
South County Times, St. Louis, feature, April 2004
The New York Sun, photo with caption, October 2007
New York Times, feature, December 2007
Chicago Sun Times, photo with caption, May 2004
Chicago Herald, feature, April 2010
The Philadelphia Inquirer, feature, July 2014
Landscape Architecture magazine, feature, April 2004
New York Times, feature (Sewell Chan), 2006
New York Daily News, feature, September 2005
New York Daily News, photo with caption, September 2005
The Battery Park City Broadsheet, photo with caption, September 2005
CNN, 3 part special feature on Trinity Root, September 2005
New York One, feature, September 2005
Art in America, review, September 1998
Gallery Guide, cover story, Summer 1998
Christian Science Monitor, feature, October 2002
Art in America, review, June/July 2006
New York Times, feature (Randy Kennedy), July 2005
The Boston Globe, feature, January 1998
Sculpture magazine, image with caption, December 2005
New York Times, feature (James Barron), April 2017
Inside magazine, feature, Spring 1997
Lifescapes West Coast Art + Design, feature, May 2006
Chicago Tribune, feature, April 2010
artdaily.org, feature, March 2011
Gallery Guide, feature, 2006
Philadelphia magazine, feature, March 1999
Chicago Sun-Times, feature, April 2010