Ascent

The process of creating bronze sculpture is more complicated than most of us can imagine—especially bringing a monumental sculpture to bronze. For 35 year-old sculptor Mark Pilato, it is a process of dreams, meditation, sketches, armatures, clay, rubber molds, wax, bronze and patina. It is a process that can span 6 months to well over a year. And we will take you with us, each step of the way, to “Ascent”: Pilato’s current monumental work, remembering the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and commemorating the unity, love and strength of the people who survived. The statue’s unveiling is scheduled for September 4, 2004, at the Enderlin Gallery, Main Street, historic Roxbury, NY.

This, the first of a seven month series of photo essays and text, illustrates the initial steps in the process of creating monumental bronze sculpture. First, the muse:

Mark Pilato has been sculpting monumental pieces since he was 20 years old—most recently he was commissioned by Minitab to create an 8-foot tall bronze statue inspired by the memory of Ken Falkenbach, one of the earliest employees and person instrumental for the corporate culture. A Pennsylvania native, he came to the Catskills from New York City, where his Chinatown studio window overlooked the Twin Towers. In his Halcottsville studio, where he presently resides with his artist wife, Alyssum, and their two children, Pilato found himself plagued by the horror of September 11, 2001—especially by images of burning bodies leaping from the Towers. Pilato saw those bodies as angels, their figurative representation becoming more and more abstract in his mind. He began to sculpt in clay, knowing that he was creating the study for a larger memorial piece: “Ascent,” to stand 8-feet tall, as two united towers of bronze.

The clay studies pictured on the following pages stand 22 inches tall and will be cast in a limited edition of 25 bronze pairs, for sale through the Enderlin Gallery.

Next month, the clay studies completed and en route to the foundry, we will take you into Pilato studios for the building of the armature for the single 8-foot pair of towers, “Ascent,” destined for placement in downtown Manhattan. We will also take you through the application of the clay—a Pilato family affair, where Alyssum and their children help apply the clay and ready it for sculpting.

Pilato’s goal is to find a permanent home for the 8-foot bronze pair—one that is prominently positioned in downtown Manhattan, where all survivors of the tragedy of September 11, 2001 can share the healing process that the creation of the statue is yielding for the artist. Indeed, Pilato’s work is fast finding itself placed in many public gardens and squares, including a forthcoming statue to NYC’s Sherman’s Square, West 73rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Share the process of monumental bronze sculpture with Mark Pilato by following this series to the unveiling of “Ascent” at the Enderlin Gallery and e-mail your comments, queries, personal experiences and ideas for permanently positioning “Ascent” to Ascent@EnderlinGallery.com.

Zoe Randall is the Director of the Enderlin Gallery in Roxbury, NY.

Mark Pilato’s sculptures can be found in private collections and public spaces across the United States. For more information, including a gallery of sculptures, please visit his Web site: www.pilatostudios.com.

“The clay study is the first step in the process of bringing any sculpture to bronze. It took me three months to finish this particular clay study—two years to sculpt it in my mind, moving it round and round in my thoughts and dreams. It was when my dreams merged with my day thought that I was able to put the figure down on paper, sketching it and re-sketching it. Then I built the armature, the framework skeleton that holds the piece. Then the clay….”

“I was working in an East Broadway Chinatown studio when I took this photograph of the World Trade Center, sculpting “Dark and Light,” a bronze statue expressing the love and unity of my family. It always amazed me that within the bustle of downtown Manhattan I had my own little haven of my family—both serving as inspiration.

After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, when I saw a still photograph of people suspended in the air, having jumped from the burning towers…They looked like angels. I knew they were in a higher place, hence the title of my sculptures: Ascent. I wish this piece to help viewers ascend to a higher place of healing and unity. The thrust of Ascent is the celebration of life, the release of tragedy, and a wiping away of sorrow. It should memorialize the unity of people surviving the tragedy of September 11th—a unity that should not dissipate with time. Hence, bronze.”

Ground Zero: photographs taken by Enderlin Gallery proprietor Marc Schweitzer from his lower Manhattan apartment window on September 13, 2001.

“At first, you see the overall form of the sculpture. Yet, when you seek into the sculpture and its shadows, you begin to see that the shadows, too, cast human form. The shadows are like ghosts, moving with the light and each turn of the sculpture, creating the feeling of an infinite amount of figures. There is not one part of the sculpture that is not part of another figure; they are all intertwined. Even the abstract nature of the stature becomes figurative.”

“This is the child of September 11th and the birth of this sculpture. It is the only figure in the sculpture that is holding on—but holding on to the ascent of a unified people, not the tragedy, itself. When I sculpted this figure, I know that I had truly begun the Towers piece. I was free to let all the other figures in the piece rather swim in a sea of embracement—losing the figurative nature of the piece and enhancing its spirit.”

GUIDE MAGAZINE