RICHARD ERDMAN

RICHARD ERDMAN Biography

Richard Erdman makes the impossible occur on a routine basis: From the seemingly grounded to the truly ethereal, his sculptures express a vitality which transcends their temporality. The inspirations for his creations are multi-faceted and varied. They do, however, have a common thread evolving from the artist's own reverence for nature, which was crystallized during his early years in Vermont.

Erdman grew up in Dorset, Vermont, at the foothills of the oldest marble quarries in the U.S. Not surprisingly, these early experiences greatly influenced his life and work. He marveled at the cavernous shapes and formations of the quarries whose weather-beaten layers and textures unveiled the mystery of stone. He also engaged his passion of joyous physicality and risk-taking, leaping from high quarry walls to the water below, challenged by new heights and dreams. These two elements, a love of the medium and an intimate relationship with nature’s raw energy and beauty, inform his work today.

Erdman’s adaptability and his intimate understanding of the materials with which he sculpts have led to the creation of a prolific body of work which ranges from intimate maquettes to massive monumental works. Known for his forward-thinking, modern adaptations of marble and bronze sculptures in graceful, flowing designs, Erdman’s massive marble sculptures weighing up to 50 tons defy gravity, bringing warmth and light to their resilient stone bodies.

The artist’s work has been shown in more than 160 solo and group exhibitions throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. He has executed over 120 commissioned works for museums, public, and corporate collections, and his work is held in collections in 52 countries worldwide for distinguished patrons such as The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Museum of Fine Art in Boston, Princeton University, The Rockefeller Collection in New York, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Four Seasons Park in Singapore, King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh, Shangri-La Hotel in Beijing, Bharti Airtel in New Delhi, and Handsome Fashion in Seoul. In 1985 PepsiCo commissioned Erdman to create the monumental sculpture titled Passage, which stands like a sentinel at the entrance to the esteemed Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo, considered to be one of the finest collections of 20th Century outdoor sculpture. Carved from a massive 450-ton block of travertine, the 25- by 16-foot Passage is the largest sculpture in the world carved from a single block of travertine. It wondrously embodies lightness, fluidity, and grace, epitomizing Erdman’s ability to create the chimerical from the prosaic.

Richard Erdman and his wife Madeleine live in Williston, Vermont, and divide time between studios in Vermont and Italy.

RICHARD ERDMAN Description

Richard Erdman's soaring, delicate ribbons of stone and bronze are in constant apparent movement, defying gravity, yet striking a formidable balance between fluidity and poise. It is the adventure and challenge of life that he strives to express in these works that belie the inherently weighty qualities of the material he cherishes.

RICHARD ERDMAN Statement

I am drawn to the mystery of opposing energies in concept, material, and form. I find that within physics the diametrical forces of life are exposed at their most fundamental, interesting, and engaging levels. In the apparent chaos of a beehive, there is order, purpose, and meaning. Polarity is like the food of nature and our own human genome; opposites attract, and within the tumultuous storm of attraction, we find passion, expression, and beauty.

I carve stone as I see life: from the inside out. I am always exploring, experimenting, pushing technical possibilities, and searching for more than meets the eye - it is my sense that life is 99% invisible; in the sublime beauty of stone, there are worlds of possibility and wonder. In the process of carving away 80 - 90% of marble from the original blocks, there exists what I call a 'released compression' - a result of having been deep within the Earth for 300 million years.

I intend for my sculptures to contain 'complimentary contrasts' in their asymmetry while maintaining an imperceptible balance of form and linear direction. Within these disparities - a beehive of activity - there exists a calm presence of mind. Because each of the sculptures are carved from a single, massive block of stone, a unity of opposites is intuited and felt by the viewer, first on a visceral level rather than an intellectual one; that is, we know instinctively that the connectivity within these diverse sculptures is as solid as the stone itself.

RICHARD ERDMAN Resumé

Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2017 "Inside the Sculptor's Studio: Richard Erdman," online exhibition and feature video, Sculpturesite Gallery, Glen Ellen, CA
2016 "White," Melissa Morgan Fina Art, Palm Desert, CA
2015 "Elements in Motion," Galerie d'Orsay, Boston, MA
2012 "Marble Weeks 2012," Piazza Alberica, Carrara, Italy
2011 "The Modern Tradition," West Branch Gallery, Stowe, VT
2008 "Erdman & Lesstemaker," Galerie d'Orsay, Boston, MA
2007 Gallery MODA, Santa Fe, NM
2006 Modern Masters Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
2005 Modern Masters Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
2004 Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT
2003 Elizabeth Edwards Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
2002 Elizabeth Edwards Fine Art, Nantucket, MA
2001 OTG Fine Art, Park City, UT
2000 Old Town Gallery, Park City, UT
1999 Old Town Gallery, Park City, UT
1998 Notices Gallery, Singapore
1997 The Landon Gallery, New York, NY
1994 Notices Gallery, Singapore
1993 Old Town Gallery, Park City, UT
1992 Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
1990 Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
1989 Francis Colburn Gallery, Burlington, VT
1988 Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
1987 Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
1986 Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT
1985 Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
1984 Old Town Gallery, Park City, UT
1982 Gallery Cortina, Aspen, CO
1981 Limited Art Editions, New York, NY
1980 Frank Wood Gallery, Houston, TX
1979 Frank Wood Gallery, Houston, TX
1977 Francis Colburn Gallery, Burlington, VT
Byck Gallery, Louisville, KY
Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY
Chaffee Art Center, Rutland, VT
"Erdman and Esbin, American Sculptors," Galerie am Lindenplatz, Lichtenstein
"Three Decades of Sculpture," Madison Gallery, La Jolla, CA
"Richard Erdman, Stone and Bronze," Galerie ArtZwina, Vienna, Austria
Hartley Gallery, Carmel, CA
J.J. Brookings Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Kristal Gallery, Warren, VT
Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT

Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 "Art Toronto," with Landau Fine Art, Toronto, Canada
2014 "In Bronze," Sculpturesite Gallery, Sonoma, CA
2013 "Frozen," Galerie Ziwna, Vienna, Austria
2013 Galerie d'Orsay, Boston, MA
2013 "Sculpture Now," The Mount, Lenox, MA
2011 "11th Art Bodennesee," Galeri am Lindenplatz, Dornbirn, Austria
2009 "Gesammelte Meisterwerke," Galerie am Lindenplatz, Lichtenstein
2007 "Autumn Exhibitions," Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT
2007 "Breaking the Rules," Modern Masters Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
2007 "SOFA Chicago," with Sculpturesite Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 "20th Anniversary Show," Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT
2006 "Inaugural Exhibition," Skylark Fine Art Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
2005 "Selections from the PepsiCo Collection," Hudson River Museum, Hudson, NY
2005 "Vernissage," Sculpturesite Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 "Selections from Zigfreid Weisaupt Collection," Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlruhe, Germany
2003 Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT
2002 "Stone II," Studio Place Art Gallery, Barre, VT
2001 "Exposed!" Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
2000 "The Cities Collect," Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
1999 "American Artists," Embassy of Poland, New York, NY
1998 Sylvia White Contemporary Art, New York, NY
1997 "New Gallery Intros," J.J. Brookings Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1996 "Art Expo LA," Sylvia White Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1995 "Art 96 Americas," Engman International Fine Art, Miami, FL
1994 "Exposed: Outdoor Sculptures," Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
1993 "New Gallery Artists," Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1992 "Contemporary Sculpture," Dolly Fiterman Fine Art, Minneapolis, MN
1991 "International Contemporary Sculpture," Odens, Denmark
1990 "New Sculpture," Maeda Environmental Art, Tokyo, Japan
1989 "On and Off the Wall," Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
1988 "Currents in Stone," Barre Sculptures Studios, Barre, VT
1987 "Master Sculptors of the 20th Century," Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
1986 "UVM Alumni & Faculty Exhibition," Robert Fleming Museum, Burlington, VT
1985 "66th National Exhibition," Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA
1984 "Master Sculptors," Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
1983 "Six Gallery Artists," Brodley Gallery, New York, nY
1982 "157th Annual Exhibition," National Academy of Design, New York, NY
1981 "32nd New England Exhibition," Silvermine Guild, New Caanan, CT
1980 "International Sculpture Exhibition," Copely Plaza, Boston, MA
1979 "Gallery Artists," Byck Gallery, Louisville, KY
1978 "New Works," Frank Wood Gallery, Houston, TX
1977 "48th National Exhibition," George Smith Museum, Springfield, MA
"Vienna Contemporary," Galerie Ziwna, Vienna, Austria
"Urban Cultural Oasis: 90-95," A New Leaf Gallery (Sculpturesite Gallery), Berkeley, CA
"The Moderns," Modern Masters Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
"Sculptors of Carrara," L'Group Galleria d'Arte, Avignon, France
"Sculpture in the Garden," University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
"Three Vermont Artists," Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT
"72nd National Exhibition," Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA
"Art Silicon Vallery," with Sense Fine Art, San Mateo, CA
"Art Southhampton," with Galerie d'Orsay, Southhampton, NY
"Artists of Torano," L'Grup Galler of Contemporary Art, Colonata, Italy
"Betwixt," Hernandez Contemporary, Scottsdale, AZ
"Beyond Borders," Madison Galleries, Rancho Santa Fe, NM
"Contemporary American Artists," Kunsthallen, Copenhagen, Denmark
"Cutting Edge," Zane Bennett Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
"Form and Idea," A New Leaf Gallery (Sculpturesite Gallery), Berkeley, CA
"Going Global," Williams Gallery, Princeton, NJ
"International Artists of Stone," Palazzo Comunale, Carrara, Italy
"Lasting Impressions," Kneeland Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
"LAX: Beyond Abstractions," Madison Galleries, La Jolla, CA
"Masters and Emerging Sculptors from Studio Sem, Pietrasanta," Leicester, UK
"National Juried Exhibition," Arlington Museum of Fine Arts, Arlington, TX
"The Capital Region Collects," Hyde Art Museum, Albany, NY
"Overtures," Hernandez Contemporary, Scottsdale, AZ
Bodley Gallery, New York, NY
Clarke Galleries, Stowe, VT
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
E.S. Lawrence Gallery, Aspen, CO
Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
Elizabeth Edwards Fine Art, Lahaina, HI
Engman International Fine Art, Coral Cables, FL
Fei Gallery, Singapore
Frank Fine Art, Denver, CO
Hartley-Hill Gallery, Carmel, CA
Mill Street Gallery, Aspen, CO
Modern Masters Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
Modern Masters Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
Norwich University, Northfield, VT
Sylvia White Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Sylvia White Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Vermont College, Montpelier, VT

Selected Public Collections
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Carpathian Foundation, Kosice, Slovakia
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Flint, MI
Conrad International Centennial Hotel, Singapore
Continental Development Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan
Dolly Fiterman Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo, Purchase, NY
Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Willison, VT
East West Institute, New York, NY
EcoLean International A/S, Sweden
Four Seasons Hotel, St. Louis, MO
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Green Mountain Valley School, Waitsfield, VT
Halkin Hotel, London, England
Handsome Fashion, Inc., Seoul, Korea
Herbert Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Hilti Foundation, Vaduz, Lichtenstein
Hilton International, Singapore
Ihilani Resort International, Ohahu, HI
John E. Fetzer Foundation, Kalamazoo, MI
King Faisal Foundation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Lumière Place, St. Louis, MO
Maeda Environmental Art Company, Tokyo, Japan
Marriott Hotel, Burlington, VT
Mason Creek Park, Houston, TX
The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, KS
Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX
MGM Grand, Detroit, MI
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, FL
Osborn Center, Rye, NY
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
Robert Hull Fleming Museum, Burlington, VT
Rockefeller Collection, New York, NY
Sasak Peace Foundation, Tokyo, Japan
Seven Bridges Foundation, Greenwich, CT
Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing, China
Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation, Bethesda, MD
Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT
Stratton Educational Foundation, Stratton Mtn., VT
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Tia Foundation, Boston, MA
United Nations, New York, NY
United States Olympic Foundation, Stowe Mountain Resort, Stowe, VT
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, NJ
Weintraub Sculpture Garden, Assaf-Harofen Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
Wishaupt Museum of Art, Ulm, Germany

Selected Corporate Collections
Air Products & Chemicals Inc., Allentown, PA
AKZO Nobel Inc., Arnhem, The Netherlands
Altera Corporation, San Jose, CA
American International Group, New York, NY
Andrew Corporation, New York, NY
ANR Pipeline Corporation, Detroit, MI
B.A.T. Industries PLC, London, England
Bechtel Corporation, Detroit, MI
Belmont Group, Dallas, TX
Bertholon Rowland Corporation, Detroit, MI
Bharti Enterprises, New Dehli, India
Blackstone Group, Menlo Park, CA
Canadian Corporate Funding, Ltd., Montreal, Canada
Cargill Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
Centon Electronics, Inc., Irvine, CA
CJX Holdings, Tequesta, FL
Credit Suisse First Boston, New York, NY
Deutsche Bank, New York, NY
Dynamic Gunver Technologies, Manchester, CT
Enrich Oil Corporation, Abilene, TX
Enterprise Corporate Park, Shelton, CT
Evans Corporation, Chicago, IL
Galveston-Houston Corporation, Houston, TX
Goldman, Sachs & Company, New York, NY
Humana Corporation, Louisville, KY
Hunter Douglas Corporation, Pearl River, NY
IBM Corporation, Essex Jct., VT
International Silver Corporation, Meriden CT
Johnson & Johnson Corporation, New Brunswick, NJ
JP Morgan Chase, New York, NY
Key Investment Company, Minneapolis, MN
Linclay Corporation, Cincinnati, OH
Lindenmaier Praizisiou A. G., Laupheim, Germany
Lytle Enterprises, Seattle, WA
Max Weishaupt Gmbh, Schwendi, Germany
MBNA Bank America, Wilmington, DE
Mediterranean Cruise Lines, Naples, FL
North American Cerutti Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA
Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, Raritan, NJ
Pardee Resources Company, Philadelphia, PA
PKV Racing, Indianapolis, IN
Rossignol Ski Corporation, Park City, UT
Rowe-Smith Oil Corporation, San Antonio, TX
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Oslo, Norway
S.G.F. Scultura, Carrara, Italy
Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing, China
Silverstein Properties, New York, NY
Society Generale, Singapore
UBS Bank, Hong Kong
Watermark LLC, San Diego, CA
Westwood Energy Corporation, Abilene, TX
Woodside Hotels and Resorts, Park, CA
World Carpets, Inc., Dalton, GA

Selected Private Collections
Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Germany
Dr. Javiar Solana, Secretary General of the European Union
Finance Minister Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin, Russia
Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Sweden
Foreign Minister George Papandreau, Greece
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, Republic of Turkey
Paolo Scaroni, CEO of Eni S.p.A.
President Nursulan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan
President Vojislav Kostunica, Federal Republic of Yukoslavia
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Canada
Prime Minister Josef Tosovsky, Czech Republic
Prime Minister Tony Blair, United Kingdom
Senator Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey

Education
1971-1975 University of Vermont
1976 Sculpture studies in Florence, Rome, and Carrara, Italy