Gary Weisman
American
Gary Weisman was born in Chicago in 1952. He was educated at the School of the Chicago Art Institute, and Columbia College, Chicago. In 1982, Weisman became a drawing instructor at Manatee College in Sarasota, Florida, and from 1986 until 2021, he taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Currently, he teaches at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Lyme Connecticut. Weisman is the recipient of various awards and commissions, and is represented in collections across the United States. Weisman has participated in group exhibitions since 1987, and from 1989 has had various solo exhibitions.
In Weisman’s sculpture, his intense search for contemporary content seems to continually involve a retrieval of the past. Being figurative, his work confronts the preeminent motif of all historical sculpture. His figures reflect the influence of the canons of Greek design, the romance of the Renaissance and, later, Rodin, as well as the universal sculptural language of Brancusi or Egyptian stelae. Most of all, Weisman’s work continues the timeless preoccupation we have with ourselves, our bodies, and the human condition. In it, he extrapolates the drama that our bodies and beings create, and inspires in the viewer a sense of awe for the heroics we can mentally construct, or physically perform.
It is Weisman’s ability to touch upon a spiritual component that holds such promise for the future for this young sculptor. Spirit is an ingredient that often manifests itself later in an artist’s life, and Weisman’s ability to touch upon it, now, distinguishes his work more than any other factor. Weisman insists on doing each stage of creating a sculpture by himself. As his own modeler, caster, foundryman, and patinist, he is able to exploit the characteristics of each process to enhance the end result he envisions. The fortitude, knowledge, and skill to work in this fashion are rare attributes, today.
Excerpts from “Gary Weisman, Sculpture and Drawing” by Frederick S. Osborne, Director, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Selected Awards
2023 | National Sculpture Society Lifetime Achievement Award, New York |
2022 | New York CAP grant, Ithaca, NY |
2018-20 | MEAM, The Museu Europeu d’Art Modern, Barcelona, Spain |
Albert Nelson Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement Award | |
Arcadia Contemporary Award in the 13th International ARC Salon Competition | |
2017 | Pennsylvania Academy Fellowship Nepal Residency |
2013-20 | ARC International Sculpture Award |
2003-11 | Who’s Who in America |
2004 | Honored at the White House, Washington, DC |
1998 | New York State Council on the Arts, New Yorj, NY |
1996-97 | Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY |
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Fellowship, PA | |
1992-94 | Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Fellowship, PA |
1992 | National Academy of Design, New York, NY |
Museum Collections
Museo Arte Contemporanea, Sicilia, Italia | |
Mohlmann Museum, Appingedam, Netherlands | |
Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art , Marietta, GA | |
MEAN, The Museu Europeu d’Art Modern | |
Museum of Modern Religious Art, Brussels, Belgium | |
John Jones Museum, Elmira, NY | |
National Museum of RAcing, Sratoga Springs, NY | |
The Art Museum of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY | |
Norton Art Museum, Palm Beach, FL | |
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY |
Notable Public & Private Collections
Cantonet & Contonet, Dubai, UAE |
City of Philadelphia, PA |
City of Chicago, Midway Airport, Chicago, IL |
Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL |
Elmhurst Hospital, Queens, NY |
John O Hern, Director, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY |
Norton Art Museum, Palm Beach, FL |
Parc Foundation, Lafayette, LA |
Pepsi Co., New York, NY |
Ralph Lauren Corp., New York, NY |
Standard Chartered Bank, New York, NY |
Tom Armstrong, Director, Whitney Art Museum, New York, NY |
Tri Star Film Corp., Hollywood, CA |
United States Embassy to North Vietnam |
Sir Elton John |
Sylvester Stallone, Beverly Hills, CA |
Ken Burns, Film Director, New York, NY |
A Jassim, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 | Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, ON |
2023 | Stanek Gallery “When Words are not Enough”, Philadelphia, PA |
2023 | Arnot Art Museum, Weisman Bronzes from the Permanent Collection, Elmira, NY |
2023 | Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, “Journeys toward Hope:Religious Iconology”, Philadelphia, PA |
2020 | Stanek Gallery, “Three Voices”, Philadelphia, PA |
2018 | Stanek Gallery, Graham Building, Philadelphia, PA |
2016 | Sirona Fine Art, Miami FL |
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY lecture | |
2015 | Sirona Fine Art, Miami, FL |
2013 | Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA |
2011 | Arcadia Fine Art Gallery, New York, NY |
2009 | Steuben Glass, New York, NY |
Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA | |
Brandon Michaels Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM | |
2007 | Eric Chen, Imavison Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan |
Wendt Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA | |
2005 | Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, NY |
2004 | Fred Baker Gallery, Chicago, IL |
2003 | Gallerie Yoram, Beverly Hills, CA |
2002 | Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, ON |
1998 | American Cultural Center, Taipei, Taiwan |
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 |
Metal Museum, Memphis, TN
|
2020 |
Ray Wiggs Gallery, Provincetown, MA
|
2019 |
Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia, PA,
|
2018 |
The Contemporary Figure, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
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2013-19 | Art Toronto, Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, ON |
2012 | Museum of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, PA |
2010-11 | Art Toronto, Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, ON |
2007 | International Art, Beijing, China |
Taipei International Art, Taiwan | |
New York Armory, New York, NY | |
2006 | Chesterwood, National Historic Site, Chesterwood, MA |
2004 | Art Australia, Melbourne, Australia |
2001 | Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA |
2000 | Corning Museum of Glass, Aids Benefit, Corning, NY |
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA | |
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY | |
Art Museum of the University of Kentucky, Louisville, KY |