Bert Gilbert has been creating objects since he was a kid, spending countless hours in his father’s tiny basement workshop. Toy boats, wood carvings, and elaborate alarm systems to keep his sisters out of his bedroom, were his specialties.

After receiving a BA in Sculpture and Painting from Indiana University in 1983, Bert allowed many years to pass artistically fallow while creating a family, home, and remodeling business.

Invigorated by the amazing iron casting workshops at Sculpture Trails of Solsberry, Indiana, Bert discovered an instant affinity in working with metal, probably forged in the steel mills and smelting plants of Northern Indiana where he spent his college summers.

Strong design is important, but Bert Gilbert wants something more, something that questions things. It has to express some idea that he want to explore. Lately he has been using more and more packing materials in his sculpture. Bert finds this detritus of our online consumer culture, with its soft corpulent forms, an apt metaphor for the empty opulence of consumerism.

Bert generally uses images and forms which seem somewhat familiar to the viewer as an invitation for a dialogue with the piece. By modifying these forms, he tries to propose questions to encourage the viewer to consider the complexity and duality of all efforts and decisions. The gray fog of doubt and the way its indecisiveness clouds even success, particularly interests him.

Cost: Free

For more information contact:

Tova Lesko
(812) 334-3255
[email protected]