When the surface of a bronze sculpture is exposed to oxygen and moisture, it oxidizes and is recognized as the greenish film on the Statue of Liberty, for instance, or the green of copper gutters and roofs. The Egyptians and Romans developed artificially patinated surfaces and the art form progressed through to the present where subtle patinas are applied to bronze sculptures using natural elements and heat.
The seemingly miraculous transformation of heating iron, copper nitrate, silver, titanium dioxide, cobalt and other materials to produce a variety of colors on bronze was, in the past, called alchemy.
Evolution, patinas on bronze, 27 x 18¼ in.
Nathan Bennett, who applies patinas to the sculptures of other artists, has developed an extraordinary control of the process to create subtle patina paintings on bronze panels. “In times past,” he says,” I would have had the title sorcerer, alchemist, conjurer or magician. A strange man eking out life in a dingy room. All around me secret formulas written on walls, scratched into cabinets, and scribed on stained manuscripts. Fire and vials filled with liquid or rocks with the ability to kill, permeate the hot and stench filled room. In modern times, I am called a master patineur.”
Fluttering for You, patinas on bronze, 12 x 16 in.
In his novel The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho writes, “’This is why alchemy exists,’ the boy said. ‘So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold. That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.’
Bennett echoes Coelho, saying, “I create images that best capture my inner workings. You can’t see the light without the dark. Mostly, what I paint is hope.”
Bennett contemplates his unique medium in the context of other artistic media. Heat and fire are elemental to his work as he melts the chemicals onto the bronze plate that he keeps hot with a blow torch in his left hand as he applies the chemicals with a brush in his right. Sand, soda ash and limestone are melted at high heat to create glass. Bronze (which is copper and tin) is melted and poured into molds to make sculpture. Pueblo pottery made from brown clay is fired in such a way that the oxygen is reduced, turning it black.
Just Getting Started, patinas on bronze, 16½ x 22½ in.
The alchemical transitions found throughout nature are summarized in Bennett’s painting Fluttering for You. The monarch butterfly has gone through an evolution of sorts from an egg to a caterpillar and then to a chrysalis from which it emerges to fly 3,000 miles from its summer to its winter home. He paints the monarch on an ubiquitous tree branch with a subtle shadow beneath it to give the painting depth. The delicate image belies the process of the butterfly’s own evolution and the complex interactions of chemicals and fire that went into making the image. —
Blue Rain Gallery 544 S. Guadalupe Street » Santa Fe, NM 87501 » (505) 954-9902 » www.blueraingallery.com
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