Daily Archives: April 28, 2012

W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

Cochlea by W.G. Middleton, James Harmon, Dr. Mindy George Weinstein, glass, acrylic, wire, 22x22x32″, W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

DoN asked William G. Middleton about the eclectic mix of classical figurative sculptures with the eye-popping abstract mixed media pieces representing microscopic anatomy details? “It’s interesting. I’ve been doing this classical stuff for probably forty years.  That’s how I went to art school, because I was doing that.”  W.G. Middleton attended PAFA.  “I got into it and I never did another classical piece of sculpture.  For one thing, I was much older than a lot of the people in sculpture.  So, they could afford to take year to do a piece, which is what it takes to do a mold and pour bronze.  I said, ‘You know, I really don’t have that kind of time‘.”

W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

“I turned to abstract sculpture, which was much more fun because you can sit around and think about it and it would evolve.  And, so, that’s where I went for a long time but I’ve always liked to do classical pieces, you know?”  DoN knows Bill from figure study workshops at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, his drawing skills are formidable. “I got away from doing those, I did one recently but that’s about it.  Then, part of the evolution of doing these was in school I was studying how things worked in the body.  I just kept going and going until I got to the microscopic level.”

W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

W.G. MiddletonBody Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

“In classical works there are portions that are common – there are either seven or eight heads, there’s three heads to the belly button, there’s a direct proportion – well, in the interior stuff, there’s no relation to anything.  But, it’s still basically form following function and it’s a totally different beauty involved.  But, it all works for the same reason.  I realized one day, it’s interesting I’ve gone from classical, totally different stuff, but it’s still in the body, it relates to the body.”

The dramatic sculpture in the window of Twenty-Two Gallery looks like found objects but Middleton explained, “No, it Boorman’s Space and the loop of Henle, so when blood comes in through here, it’s separated out, urine is separated out.  It’s not forced, it’s a balance of fluids through a filter and then the blood continues down through the loop of Henle where it is again extracted comes around here and then actually the blood takes back certain things it needs.  This is in the kidney, a pretty complex thing.”

W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

W.G. MiddletonBody Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery, Edy, clay, 19x17x20″

W.G. Middleton, Body Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

Retina, W.G. Middleton, James Harmon, Dr. Mindy George Weinstein, glass, acrylic, wire, 48x7x20″, W.G. MiddletonBody Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery

Retina, a dazzling complex sculpture on a dramatic black platform, is a combination of glass, plexiglass and light, “It’s actually a replica of how the cell in the retina works. The colors come in and then they separate out and then they’re separated and sent to the brain through the rods and cones. The primary colors are the rods, and the cones are complementary. It’s interesting, it goes to the brain and is reconstructed but in a different image based on memories, so your experiences aren’t based on what you’re seeing.  What you’re seeing and what I’m seeing are totally different.  You don’t realize it, but…”

W.G. MiddletonBody Aesthetic at Twenty-Two Gallery through May 6, 2012.

Photographed and written by DoN Brewer