Michael Wolf

Palladian Dream

Wood, 24k gold leaf, oil paint 13 x 15.5 x 2.25 inches

Palladian Dream was inspired by my travels in Italy and Greece. While traveling, I noticed many sculptural niches incorporated into the architecture, some of which housed and sheltered sculptures, and some were left empty. I was particularly attracted to the empty niches, they fueled my imagination of what they could contain and protect. Palladio was, of course, the Italian renaissance architect known for his use of symmetry and harmonious proportions.

Sanctuary in Fairyland

Wood, 24k gold leaf, oil, and acrylic paint 30 x 24 x 2.25 inches

I started the series Sanctuary in Fairyland during a residency sponsored by the Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation during the early days of the pandemic. The title comes from a social media post by an English museum director who had been taking rides into the English countryside to escape the monotony lockdown. Once, he stopped at a medieval church in an area of England known for its stories about fairies. It began to rain, and he took refuge in the church. During the brief shower, he "spent what felt like an enchanted time watching through the doorway as the rain lashed down on the Downs." I
was also taking trips into rural areas near me in the same period, discovering new and unusual places. My drawings and sculptures attempt to capture the feeling of that unique period.

No Sound of Water

Limestone, wood, 24k gold leaf, oil paint 15 x 19 x 5.5 inches

This sculpture, No Sound of Water, is informed by the T. S. Eliot poem The Wasteland. Although I came across this section of the poem after I completed the sculpture, it seemed to capture the zeitgeist of the piece perfectly.

"What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water. 

Only There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock)"

- T.S. Eliot The Waste Land