FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
ANDRÁS BÖRÖCZ
January 21 - March 5, 2005
 
             Adam Baumgold Gallery presents an exhibition of recent sculpture by András Böröcz.  The exhibition will focus on  three groups of sculpture: pencil tableaux in boxes, "Birds" made of wood and ostrich eggs, and two sculptures that focus on the Holocaust.
 
           Böröcz started to work with pencils more than twelve years ago. The pencil, which is often the tool to create art, is used as the art material in his work.  The pencil appears as both content and context: a box, made of painted glued together pencils, holds a small pencil tableaux.  Behind the carved pencil figures there is a drawing of a scene out of a window or a drawing on the wall, or both, each representing a larger pencil universe.  The themes of these pencil genre boxes are often absurd, particularly when these miniatures address archetypal motifs as in "House of Cards," and "Inspiration (Artist and Model)."  Reminiscent of both tiny Medieval altars and of enlarged pencil cases, they are further enriched by painted surfaces, mirrors and drawn elements.  These new boxes are larger than the earlier ones and incorporate a range of exotic and antique pencils.
 
           Another series of works, "The Tool Bird Series," are meticulously carved figures of fantastical birds intermingled with utilitarian tools and ostrich eggs.  Böröcz explores a layer of biological evolution as he considers beaks and their functions, in Darwinian style. Beaks in this series have become tools, saw, broom, rake, corkscrew, comb, toothbrush as the single foot has evolved into a diver's flipper, a lady's high heel, or workman boots - all lovingly carved from walnut wood.
 
            The "Broom" and "Model for Holocaust Memorial" sculptures fit into Böröcz's personal autobiography, as a Central European from Budapest who only found out about his Jewish origins as a young adult. "Broom" is carved from his signature material - pencils. This presentation of a broom transforms this tool to an industrial structure holding soap, with the handle becoming a large chimney and the bristles becoming the people that hold up the building. "Model for Budapest Holocaust Memorial" is a proposed time piece to be built in Budapest, Hungary. Carved from walnut, it depicts a cattle car with doors that open to reveal a noise-making wooden machine of rows of stamping shoes.
 
        András Böröcz's work has been exhibited extensively in Europe and the U.S., and is in the permanent collections of the Jewish Museum, New York, Jewish Museum, Budapest, Contemporary Museum, Pécs, Hungary, the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest and City College of New York.  His work is currently on display in the Jewish Museum in New York in the exhibition, "New Acquisitions."  This is Böröcz's sixth solo exhibition at Adam Baumgold Gallery. He currently lives and works in New York City.
 
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11:00 - 5:30 P.M.  For additional information, please contact Adam Baumgold at (212)861-7338.