Lingering at the brooding rim

Bonded with ancestral strength2007Stoneware, wire and found object27 x 14 x 15Available — **Bonded with ancestral strength**
2007
Stoneware, wire and found object
27 x 14 x 15
Available

Rising to meet the last light of day2009Stoneware, wood and wire51 x 84 x 10Available — **Rising to meet the last light of day**
2009
Stoneware, wood and wire
51 x 84 x 10
Available

Looking east into the rising2015-2016Bronze and wood98 x 76 x 76Private Collection — **Looking east into the rising**
2015-2016
Bronze and wood
98 x 76 x 76
Private Collection

Patient in the tragic gap of every moment (bright sadness)2014-2015Stoneware with mason stains, steel, found objects and wire74 x 32 x 48AvailableRusted wire spaces empty and fullBurdens from the long journeyA weightless encumbranceYoked within the … — **Patient in the tragic gap of every moment (bright sadness)**
2014-2015
Stoneware with mason stains, steel, found objects and wire
74 x 32 x 48
Available
*Rusted wire spaces empty and full*
*Burdens from the long journey*
*A weightless encumbrance*
*Yoked within the limen*
*Of the immutable moment*
*Waiting as the soft disconsolate glow of age descends*

Loquat dreams of dark metallic seeds2006-2007Stoneware with loquat branches69 x 35 x 48Available — **Loquat dreams of dark metallic seeds**
2006-2007
Stoneware with loquat branches
69 x 35 x 48
Available

Sifting through the remain - the journey of spriritAvailable — Sifting through the remain - the journey of spririt
Available

Waits within the shrine of memory2015-2016Stoneware with mason stains, plum branches and wire142 x 24 x 48”Available — **Waits within the shrine of memory**
2015-2016
Stoneware with mason stains, plum branches and wire
142 x 24 x 48”
Available

Two rooms for my fatherAvailable — **Two rooms for my father**
**Available**

Gently and slowly rising2001Stoneware, steel and wire60 x 53 x 8Available — **Gently and slowly rising**
2001
Stoneware, steel and wire
60 x 53 x 8
Available

Full of suppressed sobbing (A song for Frida)1998Stoneware with wire62 x 12 x 6Available — **Full of suppressed sobbing (A song for Frida)**
1998
Stoneware with wire
62 x 12 x 6
Available

Sifting through the remains: wisdom from the stars2009Pit-fired ceramic, wire, wood and found objectsAvailableThe grayed boards from the fence of another life, form a container/frame. The figure rests in its hooded, sectioned cocoon, imagining the f… — **Sifting through the remains: wisdom from the stars**
2009
Pit-fired ceramic, wire, wood and found objects
Available
The grayed boards from the fence of another life, form a container/frame. The figure rests in its hooded, sectioned cocoon, imagining the future under a rusted sun. Letterpress number fifty-five from a technology of another era, reminds one of beginnings and weeks and days, like stars counted in hope.

The rose of haron between the mountain and the sea2010-2012Stoneware, plum branches and pine boardsAvailable“Deep in the soul rests the bundled branches of hope and fear.”Within the chambers of the inner world, lies the fuel toburn the flames of lov… — **The rose of haron between the mountain and the sea**
2010-2012
Stoneware, plum branches and pine boards
Available
*“Deep in the soul rests the bundled branches of hope and fear.”*
Within the chambers of the inner world, lies the fuel to
burn the flames of love and demise, grief and dancing,
ashes and singing, today and forever. Tightly stacked
against the chill of winter’s later years when sadness
rests upon an upward journey towards a late risen sun.

Late afternoon burden of release2010Stoneware, wood and twine57 x 19 x 11Available — **Late afternoon burden of release**
2010
Stoneware, wood and twine
57 x 19 x 11
Available

The way of cinder and ash2015-2016Stoneware with mason stains and wood91 x 60 x 98”Melissa Morgan Fine Art — **The way of cinder and ash**
2015-2016
Stoneware with mason stains and wood
91 x 60 x 98”
Melissa Morgan Fine Art

Lingering at the brooding rim

Riverside City College Quad Gallery, 2016

I have been following the works by William Catling for several years and have had glimpses into the evolution of a powerful body of work. It was when we exhibited together in a figurative group show last year that I became wholly entranced. I am very honored to have the opportunity to exhibit his work in a solo exhibition, for the first time in his home city of Riverside California.

I think what first drew me to Catlings work was this deep sense of the human spirit and an acknowledgement of the darkest, most brutal and pain filled aspects and presence of existence as a living being. He draws you in with a profound sensitivity and awareness of myth and metaphor that compels us to look closely at the aspects of what connects us. Amazingly though as we “linger on this brooding rim” we find an obscure, nearly indefinable, elegance, beauty and hope in that connectivity. I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Joseph Campbell. ” Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.”

Catling’s works embody the timeless burdens of human existence, yet they are still life - affirming. He fearlessly brings (as termed by Eckhart Tolle) an archetypal collective “pain body” to the forefront and makes us live with it, accept it and and be present with it.

He is a sculptor for our time, and all time as we observe the burdens, crimes and horrors that we have perpetrated upon ourselves and each other. The toil and pain of being becomes inescapable as we become the “witness”. And as we witness we unify, become the “One” and begin our collective transcendence.

Leslie A. Brown

Gallery Coordinator/Curator