GIL HAWKINS
"Waldorf A"
As the sculptor explains: “The title, ‘Waldorf A,’ relates to the social genre of New York City in the late fifties. I recall the uniformed doormen of the hotels and posh apartment houses on Manhattan's east side, polishing the brass door decorations while patrons passed unnoticing. The search for a literal name is quite inadequate nomenclature for the sculptural expression. Waldorf A is a constructivist sculpture. It is composed of shapes and forms found in architecture or industry. The individual pieces are bolted together, rather than welded, because a union created by bolting is both difficult and expressive. In Waldorf A the viewer's eye is drawn to the bisected strong circle at the top of the monolithic construction with each individual piece adding it's own character to the overall composition. Though my work has changed from that 1980 purely constructivist period to a search for landscapes, as in "Rising Sun," it still remains minimalistic. No one element can be considered decoration or flourish. The only elements in the sculpture are the ones needed for structural composition or expression.”
"Rising Sun"
Prominently standing guard in front of Leonia’s Borough Hall, Hawkin’s “Rising Sun” captures the presence of “now.” It is made of polished aluminum beams. The sculptor explains: “Successful sculpture speaks for itself. Titles often hinder the passage. Implied perspective creates a landscape.”
Gil Hawkins has won several awards including first place in Sculpture in the Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Annual and winner of the Sculpture at Newark Airport competition. He has had countless exhibitions and one-man shows, some of which were at The Puffin Cultural Center Forum, Delaware Museum, and The Stamford Museum and Nature Center. Hawkins work is displayed in the collections of Storm King Art Center, The Puffin Cultural Forum, and in numerous private collections. He earned his BFA in Sculpture from the Philadelphia College of Art and was part of the Art Students League, New York. He has taught at Fairleigh Dickenson, Pace, NYU, and Sarah Lawrence College among others.