"We have art in order not to die of the truth."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Josh Brooke Cote'
I became interested in wire sculpture as it bridges both linear drawing and sculpture, the two and three dimensions. I create intricately woven wire sculptures using recycled aluminum, recycled copper or steel wire. With only needle-nosed pliers, innovative techniques developed by the artist are applied as the wire is painstakingly hand-manipulated, wrapped and woven to itself. Using negative space, combined with the linear nature of the wire, the finished work is much like a pen and ink drawing in sculptural form.
Similar to a gesture drawing, yet as a free standing sculpture, the manipulated wire captures the energy and life of the subject, there is movement and mystery. Wire sculpture is a bare and honest medium as nothing is hidden, all is revealed to the beholder.
Usually the raw metal wire is left in its natural achromatic state, but sometimes the wire is oxidized with a variety of acids to achieve unusual patinas. Every sculpture is unique and inimitable, impossible to replicate.
My work explores mixed media and wire as a flexible medium capable of expressing the unique space between realism and abstraction; where interpretation and our ability to create meaning is in flux.
I was raised by gypsies. True... in a sense. Born in 1971 I grew up going to art shows along the East Coast with my mother and father who was a traveling artist during the 60's, 70's and 80's, back when art festivals just started to form around the country. I ended up going to the University of Michigan, with delusions of becoming a doctor...it did not take long to come back to my true calling. I find the gypsy life still to be intriguing: I have lived in Vermont, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, Missouri, and now, North Carolina.
Guess I never grew up, art shows are still as mysterious and fulfilling as they ever were. I am a self-taught artist, I spent my childhood drawing and painting, soon sculpture became my obsession.
Years later, I'm gratefully still lost in art. With my wife Pam and our cat, Stevens, this is right where I should be.
Similar to a gesture drawing, yet as a free standing sculpture, the manipulated wire captures the energy and life of the subject, there is movement and mystery. Wire sculpture is a bare and honest medium as nothing is hidden, all is revealed to the beholder.
Usually the raw metal wire is left in its natural achromatic state, but sometimes the wire is oxidized with a variety of acids to achieve unusual patinas. Every sculpture is unique and inimitable, impossible to replicate.
My work explores mixed media and wire as a flexible medium capable of expressing the unique space between realism and abstraction; where interpretation and our ability to create meaning is in flux.
I was raised by gypsies. True... in a sense. Born in 1971 I grew up going to art shows along the East Coast with my mother and father who was a traveling artist during the 60's, 70's and 80's, back when art festivals just started to form around the country. I ended up going to the University of Michigan, with delusions of becoming a doctor...it did not take long to come back to my true calling. I find the gypsy life still to be intriguing: I have lived in Vermont, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, Missouri, and now, North Carolina.
Guess I never grew up, art shows are still as mysterious and fulfilling as they ever were. I am a self-taught artist, I spent my childhood drawing and painting, soon sculpture became my obsession.
Years later, I'm gratefully still lost in art. With my wife Pam and our cat, Stevens, this is right where I should be.
RepresentationAmerican Folk Art Museum
New York, NY Grovewood Gallery Asheville, NC Jeanine Taylor Folk Art Sanford, FL Roots Up Gallery Savannah, GA Artemisia Geneva, IL 
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Awards*Merit Award, Kentuck Art Festival, Northport AL 2015
* Featured Artist, Krasl Art Festival, St. Joseph, MI 2015 * Best of Show, Three Rivers Art Festival, Covington, LA, 2014 * Merit Award, Kentuck Art Festival, Northport, AL 2013 * Award of Excellence, Orchard Lake Fine Art Show, Orchard Lake, MI 2013 * Outstanding Achievement Award, Port Clinton Art Festival, Chicago, IL 2013 * First Place Mixed Media 3D, Gold Coast Art Festival 2012 * Best In Show Finalist, Uptown Art Festival 2012 * Best In Show, Artfest Spokane, Spokane, WA 2011 * First Place Sculpture, Sedona Art Festival, Sedona, AZ 2010 * Best of Metal, Tempe Festival of the Arts, Tempe, AZ 2008 * 3rd Place Sculpture, Edmonds Juried Gallery, Edmonds, WA 2007 * Best of Show, ReStore 2nd Annual Art Show, Seattle, WA 2003 * Honorable Mention, International Painting Competition, Academia Nacional de Artes Plasticas, Brasil Recently Featured: * Raw Vision Magazine #97 * HGTV * Orlando Magazine * Southern Living Magazine * The Laurel of Asheville * Mountain Xpress Selected Collections: * Richard Branson, Virgin Records * Union Station Hotel, Nashville, TN * Greater Des Moines Partnership, Des Moines, IA * Ritz Carlton, AZ * Ms. Annie Proulx, Centennial, WY * Mr. Jim Harrison * Mr. Thomas McGuane * Chevron Corporation * Costco * David Walters, Former Governor of Oklahoma * Tennessee Technological University, permanent collection |