ERNEST TROVA

ABOUT THE WORK

Coda was produced as part of Ernest Trova's eight-piece Personae/Etc collection. Drawn by the artist in St. Louis between May and October 1995, these works exhibit Trova's late-career experimentation with abstract expressionism. They were inspired by the alternate persona that Trova, a shy man, would later refer to as 'Junior Person,' the person within him who behaved more eccentrically. The collection was hand-printed at Studio Heinrici in New York City in late 1995 and published by St. Louis-based Lococo Fine Art the following year.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ernest Trova (1927-2009) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, residing there most of his life as he transitioned from department store window dresser to renowned surrealist artist, all without formal training. His early works were inspired by comics and jazz music, as well as the technology used by his father, an industrial tool designer. He used discarded items from his job as materials in his early sculptures and paintings, resulting in avant-garde designs that disrupted the staid environment of his midwestern hometown.

His first award-winning piece, Roman Boy, was deemed "sexually graphic" and landed its picture in Life magazine, which brought him to the attention of the nascent Pace Gallery in New York City. Pace would later exhibit his most famous works, Falling Man, which comprised a series of metal sculptures depicting "faceless, armless, polished, unsexed" figures inspired by the mannequins he worked with as a window designer. During a time when the status quo was being challenged by the Sixties counter-culture, such pieces became iconic reflections of the directionless everyman and would become synonymous with the artist. Today, St. Louis remains the hub of Trova's work, with Pace and prominent collectors donating his sculptures to the city's public gardens. His pieces continue to occupy the collections of the MOMA, Whitney, Guggenheim, and Tate museums.