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Ernest
Tino Trova
American
B. 1927
Known
for his "Falling Man" series in abstract figural sculpture, he
created hard-edge images that brought him widespread attention
because they seem to strike a chord of empathy with viewers who
recognized themselves as human beings challenged by a technological
society. Also, they are the only creatures aware of their mortality.
He is considered highly innovative because of his successful
combining of technological methods to create his art.
Interpretation as to overall meanings vary with some thinking that
it refers to the fall of man in the religious sense and others
seeing it as a commentary on the tragic mechanization of society
that reduces human beings. Trova has said that "falling" refers to
the fact that man moves from one position to the next in an eventual
fall to inevitable oblivion" (Kultermann 11).
He has lived his entire life in St. Louis, Missouri although his
reputation is nationwide. He did not think it necessary to study art
because he believed in his own instincts, although he drew from a
variety of sources including figurative painters such as Francis
Bacon, Jean Dubuffet, and Willem DeKooning.
The "Falling Man" series resulted from a unique offer from the
Famous-Barr Department Store in St. Louis, where he had worked as a
window decorator in his twenties. Store personnel told him that in
exchange for creating a series of works to exhibit at the city's
1964 bicentennial celebration, he could have unlimited access to the
store's materials and workers. The store's display department was a
great setting for him to be creative with his interest in Pop Art,
and this project gave him assembly-line assistance of carpenters,
electricians, and painters.
The result was that all images had Falling Man figures, and this
included paintings, assemblages, collages, and moveable sculpture,
both electronic and hand driven. After the Bi-centennial, many of
the pieces were then shipped to the Face Gallery in New York City
and received critical acclaim.
Of his technique, he has explained that he first creates a cardboard
model and then works from there, often making it life size. He is
much more interested in variations of shape and form rather than
color.
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