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C 2. DELILAH, Front Exposure
C 2. DELILAH, Back Exposure
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Wayne Kerstetter
Marco Island, Florida
Phone: 239.642.4969
Email: WKerstett@aol.com
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.WOMAN IN TRANSITION – FIVE FEMALE FIGURES
Begun in 1987 MACHINA, the fourth figure, reflects this determination to become part of the machine of professional and commercial success. This figure emphasizes geometric rather than organic forms.
In one of the first attempts to establish a role of equality in what had been predominantly a man’s world, many women sought to adapt to the bureaucracies which increasingly structure and control our lives. They adopted even the dress of the males who inhabited the milieu in which they wished to succeed; thus the feminized versions of the three-piece pin-striped suits and bow times which filled airport waiting rooms in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Max Weber attributes part of the success of bureaucracy as an organizational structure to its dehumanizing effect on its members. Employees are turned into interchangeable cogs in a machine. MACHINA images this phenomenon.
DELILAH, the first figure, begun in 1986, challenges the physical ideal of the fashion model. Her developed muscularity asserts the potential of woman’s strength, including physical strength. Once the stereotype of female physical weakness is destroyed, or at least put into proper perspective, another image emerges. Many ancient mythologies contain a female figure of such enormous potency that even catching a glimpse of her was life threatening.
The second figure, DAPHNE, begun in 1986 and named to acknowledge her tree-like image, appears to suggest this foreboding figure.But those potent figures inhabited a world of Gods and not of humans.
The third figure in the series, also begun in 1986, is MONA, named to reflect her resemblance to a mountain. She appears to represent human woman recoiling from this role in anguish. She did not seek to dominate and overpower, nor did she want the
fearful response produced in others by that approach.Rather she sought equality and partnership in human affairs.
A wise person once suggested that involvement in the issues of one’s time is a path to an interesting life. Certainly the emergence of women into nontraditional roles is one of the central issues of the last four decades. These sculptures reflect this historic change. However, the story told by the five figures was not conscious during the sculpting process. The figures were sculpted in the order indicated below, the idea for each beginning to unfold before her predecessor was finished, until all five were complete. It was then that they told their story.
DAVINA, the fifth and final figure in the series, begun in 1988, is muscular but without DELILAH’S overdevelopment. She appears determined but without DAPHNE’S foreboding. She is restrained in her emotions, appearing to understand and accept the costs of her new freedoms but without MONA’S anguish. Nor is she dehumanized like MACHINA. She had adopted a new human image. Like Michelangelo’s David, after whom she is named, DAVINA inhabits a world of expanded possibilities, challenging as well as exhilarating.
Wayne A. Kerstetter
April 2008
