Robert Bricker

Biography

My name is Robert Bricker, I am a figurative bronze sculptor. I began stone carving the figure when I was 15 years old, and by the age of 25, I had established my own bronze foundry business in Charlottesville, Virginia. Although it is a small business, I have built my foundry to handle monumental scale bronze sculptures, and I am responsible for the creation of fifteen public monuments in Virginia and on the east coast, many of which are of my own design. 

Although I am trained as a realist figurative sculptor, I am deeply interested in personal expression with the figure. Imagination and composition are paramount priorities. I am a spatial thinking artist, and my work has a distinguished sensibility of form in space. At best, I am a relief sculptor with an emphasis on self-portraiture in-the-extreme, and with an in-depth introspection and veiled layers of self confessions. With reliefs, my figures exist within their own form-consistent environment. By investigating my ‘self’, I hope to strike chords that rhyme with the inner selves of my viewing audience. I am dedicated to creating figurative imagery that is designed as visual poetry, in which the meaning for the viewer is as legitimate as my own original intention. 

I am a sculptor who loves to draw. I draw constantly from live models my studio. I try to cultivate a call-and-response synergy. Models become a point of departure for me to embark on introspection and to tease out the threads of my curious internal contradictions. I try to stare thru the temporality of the model in order to glimpse something eternal about them and myself – while notating with my drawing hand. I am quite interested in the spatial environment in which my figures exist, with provocative potential meanings of juxtaposed disparate props and symbols.

In my investigation of relief sculpting, I have explored ‘wrap-around’ relief sculpting on vessel forms. On vessels, there is no Y-axis that terminates the composition, so it is impossible to see the entire image all at once. Thus, the storylines of the relief unfold in time similar to literature and theatre. I discovered what I call ‘cylindrical composition’, with themes rising and diminishing as the vase is circumambulated, or rotated before the eye. Craftsmanship and respect for the artistic medium are important to me. I feel that my assertions in this statement are firmly backed up with the perusal of my figurative art imagery.

Thru the decades, I have had various shows of my fine art.
Partial List
  • McG 1986 – “Joe and Bob’s FINAL NOTICE Touring Art Show”
  • McG 1994 – “Cadenza”
  • McG 1999 – “Late late late 20th Century Art Show”
  • McG 2004 –  “Rhyme Schemes”
  • Gallery 1708 Richmond Group Show, 2001
  • McG 2007 – “Deep In Shallow Thoughts”
  • Gallery 50, Rehobeth Beach Delaware 2007 “Deep In Shallow Thoughts”
  • Second Street Gallery Group Show, 2008
  • Chroma Lab works Gallery, 2011 “Long Winded Short Stories”
  • McG group Show, 2019

OVER 30 YEARS OF PROJECTS

Partial List
  • Created 2 custom finials for the rooftop of the renovation of The Wayne Theatre, Waynesboro, Virginia. 2020
  • Enlarged and cast into bronze 6 foot tall monument of African-American woman educator, Jeannie Deane for Manassas, Virginia. 2019-2020
  • Restoration-welded 15 feet of stress cracks in the world famous Marine Corp war Memorial (IWO JIMA) in Arlington, Virginia. 2017
  • Life-size realist monument of Senator Charles Colgan, George Mason University, Manassas, Virginia. 2016
  • Enlarged and cast into bronze a larger than life sized monument of Singer-turned-entrepreneur, Jimmy Dean, sculpted by Client Paul DiPasquale. 2012-13 
  • Life-size portrait of Professor Bob Gillespie, Johnson Stadium, Woodberry Forest School, Woodberry Forest, Virginia. 2008
  • Life-size portrait of Coach Red Caughron, Johnson Stadium, Woodberry Forest School, Woodberry Forest, Virginia. 2008
  • Life-size portrait of the Honorable Nina Peace, Central Plaza, Ashland, Virginia. 2007
  • Life-size portrait of Jay Pace, Central Plaza, Ashland, Virginia. 2007
  • 8 times life-size Colossus of Neptune, 31st & Boardwalk, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Sculptor Paul DiPasquale. 2005 
  • Life-size portrait of Lucy B. Robertson, Public Plaza, Orange, Virginia. 2004
  • Over life-size, full figure portrait of athlete, John Wareing, located at 17th Boardwalk, Virginia Beach, Virginia. 2004
  • Life size Portrait of Dr. John Moreland, President of Randolph Macon College, located on the campus of Randolph Macon College, Ashland, Virginia. 2003 
  • 1.6 times life-size Fallen Firemen Memorial, Roanoke, Virginia. Sculptor Betty Branch. 2000 
  • Masonic Temple Bas Relief, Masonic Temple, Downtown Mall, Charlottesville, Virginia. 1999 
  • Eight editions of bronze sculptures by internationally renowned artist Cy Twombly. 1998 to present 
  • 1.6 times life-size Arthur Ashe Monument, Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia. Sculptor Paul DiPasquale. 1996 
  • Twice life-size portrait bust of Robert Pamplin for museum in Petersburg, Virginia. 1993 
  • Hurricane Camille Memorial Bas Reliefs, Nelson County, Virginia. 1990 
  • Annual Collier Award for excellence in aeronautic  innovation, National Aeronautics Association (NAA). Sixty trophies per year. 1990 to present
  • Malcolm Moore. 1988 
  • Co-authorship with Jack Witt of Lincoln Monument for Lincoln Memorial University, Tennessee. 1987
  • 7 life-size figures and various other sculptures. Sculptor Beatrix Ost. 1985 to present
  • O. Henry Monument, Greensboro, North Carolina. Sculptor Maria Kirby-Smith. 1984 
  • Various portrait busts. Details upon  request. 1983 to present 
  • Various sculptures. 1983 to present