T O D D    K U R T Z M A N    

Black and White Photography

 

 

An “Enthusiast," as defined by author Lewis Hyde, is a person who finds spiritual expression through the body. Envision the Enthusiast church service as an event where there is music, people are jumping, waving their hands, speaking in tongues, falling to the ground, books are flying through the air and peoples bodies become possessed with "the spirit." In Hinduism, Sufism, Candomble and other religions there are highly sophisticated and codified rhythms and dances that provide forms by which people express their spirituality through movement arts.

In 1994 while traveling in Brazil, I attended the 500 year anniversary celebration of Sao Paolo, the world’s third largest city at that time. There was a free public concert in the “Central Park” of Sao Paolo, and when I arrived, Brazilian pop star Jorge Ben was performing. I was amazed to see twenty five thousand Brazilians stepping in time and singing in harmony with Jorge Ben throughout the whole concert. There was hardly one person who lacked rhythm or pitch in the entire crowd. I realized that I was visiting an elevated popular culture, and that there was an entire country of people who shared my passion. My love affair with Brazilian culture continues to this day.

Later during that trip I saw Capoeira. The movement art of Capoeira was developed by African slaves, beginning in the 16th century, who disguised a martial arts training as a dance and ritual. The oldest written record of capoeira is the 1789 arrest record of a "capoeira", printed in a Rio de Janeiro newspaper. Outlawed in Brazil until the 1930’s, the game of Capoeira is played in a circle with clapping, singing and instruments while two people in the center exchange cartwheels, head-stands spinning kicks, foot sweeps, theatrics and trickery. Each movement in the game of Capoeira is an opportunity for advantage or entrapment, like a witty game of high speed human chess.

I have been practicing Capoeira since 1995 and have trained with some of Brazils's greatest capoeira masters in San Francisco, New York, Portland and have participated in workshops and batizados taught by legendary senior masters of Capoeira.

I am an Enthusiast by nature and my art reflects my passion for the human body in rhythm, the movement arts and spirited physical expression.

In my work I collaborate with capoeiristas, modern, post-modern, African, Latin, independently inspired movers and musicians. I consider my involvement and exploration of these styles of dance as a way to get inside the source of my inspiration, and key to developing my work.

I consider my artistic objectives to be parallel to those of a contemporary choreographer in that I am exploring and innovating my own movement style, and attempting to communicate with an audience through an un-codified physical language.

I have choosen to cast my sculpture in bronze because I believe that the work I create will stand up over time, it will translate well when executed in large scale, the permanance of bronze creates a compelling antithesis to the fleeting quality of music and dance, and it revolts against our culture of the disposable.

In sculpture I find my inspiration in the monumentality and precision of Michelangelo, the raw emotional power of Rodin, and the invention and whimsy of Calder. In my future work I’ll begin to introduce the conceptual skills that I developed as an internationally acclaimed independent and commercial filmmaker, and will integrate that with the stylistic innovations of my present work.

I initially began photographing dancers for the sole purpose of sculpture reference. However, the pictures have since become a compelling part of my work, and I now consider them to be both an integral part of my working method as a sculptor, and also photographic works in their own right.

Regardless of the medium or style, my attraction to rhythm and movement in the human body continues to be my driving inspiration. My goal is to arouse the same fire in those who view my work by making the fleeting passions of the movement arts more permanent.