signed (stamped) and numbered 4/6 on the base
24.5 × 14.5 × 6.75 in (62.2 × 36.8 × 17.1 cm) (overall, including base)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Private Collection, Toronto
Sorel Etrog, Dunkelman Gallery, Toronto, 1972, unpaginated, a similar work reproduced no. 7
Alma Mikulinsky, Sorel Etrog: Life & Work [online publication], Art Canada Institute, Toronto, 2020, page 55
During the 1960s and 1970s, Sorel Etrog made several trips to Florence, Italy, where he created sculptures at the Michelucci Foundry. Etrog had become friends with the architect Boris Zerafa, of the firm Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden. Zerafa commissioned the artist to create work for the Bow Valley Square in Calgary, an iconic office tower complex designed by his firm. Kabuki is a study for the monumental sculpture produced for the site, along with the closely related sculpture, Sadko.
Ordinary objects could be a source of inspiration for Etrog. An eye screw found on a street in Toronto motivated Etrog to develop a new Screws and Bolts series in the early 1970s. Incorporating the forms of nuts, bolts and screws into anthropomorphic figures, Etrog explored themes of the increasing mechanization of humanity. With the artist's characteristic wit and humour, Kabuki juxtaposes both industrial and bodily forms. Art historian Alma Mikulinsky observed, "One way to understand Etrog's approach to visualizing this tension between organic and mechanical elements is through his interest in existentialist and absurdist philosophy, which developed as he searched for ways to create meaning out of an irrational world." Etrog's visual language was rich with metaphor. As connecting devices, screws and bolts also carry the association of emotional and physical attachment. Unusual in the artist's oeuvre, Etrog coated both Sadko and Kabuki with vibrant enamel paints, colouring the sculptures with glossy red and yellow respectively. Installed together, the two full-scale works become a sculptural couple, representing the dichotomy of male and female. Infused with personality, Sadko and Kabuki form a notable example of engaging public art.
This artwork is a study for the monumental sculpture commissioned for Calgary's Bow Valley Square between 1971 and 1972.
