Russell Crotty: Globe Drawings
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City
April 11 – July 6, 2003
California-based artist Russell Crotty combines his passion for astronomy with his art. The results are intricately drawn images of the nighttime sky, including star clusters, constellations, and planets, which he mounts on spheres. The exhibition Russell Crotty: Globe Drawings features several new works. Russell Crotty is an artist in residence at the Kemper Museum.
Russell Crotty lives on 130 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains, where he built the Solstice Peak Observatory. From there, he studies nocturnal skies with a ten-inch f/8 Newtonian reflector telescope, taking extensive notes on his observations of different celestial bodies. From these studies, Russell Crotty makes his final drawings in his studio. He then transfers the drawings onto globes that he suspends from the ceiling.
Unlike scientific satellite photographs, Russel Crotty’s images of planets and constellations are impressions of what he see through his telesclope. Since it takes thousands of years for light to travel to Earth from distant stars, what we see is in many ways a memory. He says, “On that ladder alone up there I actually feel creeped out. I feel like I’m looking at something I shouldn’t be looking at. That light, there’s something sacred about it. It’s traveled so far. It’s amazing, like eavesdropping.” (Artforum, September 2001)
KEMPER MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
4420 Warwick Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64111
