Commodore John Barry 1908

Andrew O'Connor Jr.'s Commodore John Barry is a small bronze sculpture, but it feels monumental. The surface has this light, creamy, gray-green finish, like it's been aged by the sea itself. You can see every little notch and mark the artist made, as if he’s built up this figure through touch, through repeated actions. Look at the way the light catches on the edges of his coat, on his face, it’s all about surface, about the push and pull of the sculptor's hand. The marks, the texture, they aren't just decorative, they give the figure a sense of life, like it's caught in a moment of breath. This reminds me of some of Rodin's figures, how they are also roughed up, as if they’ve emerged from the earth. It feels like O'Connor is less interested in the perfect idealized form, and more interested in the messy, real process of making, of finding form through material. It makes you realize that art is just a conversation, constantly reinterpreting the past.