A N D R Á S B Ö R Ö C Z
Pencil Figures
on Pencil Bases
1992-1994
Installation of over 20 carved Pencil Figures, each standing on a laminated and carved pencil base
3' - 5' in height
“The pencil is a drawing tool for most artists, but for Andras Böröcz, who immigrated to New York City from Hungary four years ago, it is the stuff of sculpture. His first solo exhibition is populated by tiny figures, all meticulously carved from one or more pencils. Some depict embracing couples; others are pierced by arrows in the manner of St. Sebastian; nearly all give a new specificity to the film title "Eraserhead." These figures have a charming, slightly illustrational appeal similar to that of Saul Steinberg's objects, while their delicate recycling has something in common with Donald Lipski's transformations of tiny found objects. They also evoke, in a minor key, a long history of carved figures, including African, German Expressionist and Romanesque. As engrossing as the figures are, the tall sinuous bases that raise them to eye level sometimes suggest elongated mangrove roots. These, too, are made of pencils, assembled into larger chunks and carved in such a way that their surfaces are often punctuated by the dots and ellipses of exposed pencil lead. Mr. Borocz works with a genuine feeling for form and scale, although he risks having the sheer eccentricity and technical finesse of his art overshadow all its other attributes.”
— ROBERTA SMITH
NY Times, June 3, 1994