Collections Summer 2013 Volume 96 | Page 13

the simple curves of plowed fields and the play of light and shadow on architecture. The CMA also made a major purchase in the first few months of 2013. As the end of the loan period for the sculptures Kaitlin and Martin by North Carolina-based artist Bob Trotman (b. 1947) drew closer, the staff felt that the piece had become too much a part of the CMA to let it leave. The visitor services staff reported that visitors often pose with the figures for photos, which delights the artist and makes the work one of the CMA’s signature views. Kaitlin and Martin exemplify Trotman’s work, as his artist statement attests: “As a contemporary artist, I am fascinated by a noire narrative of life at the office. My wooden people, often surprisingly posed, evoke both humor and anxiety and, taken together, offer an absurdist vision of an imaginary corporate purgatory.” This humor resonates with CMA members and visitors. Perhaps for all of us in our modern work-a-day lives there are moments when we feel like Kaitlin and Martin look – with frayed nerves, drowning. Kaitlin and Martin will appear in various places in the CMA and continue to delight visitors. n Above: Lee Hall, American, born 1934, Connecticut Rise/Autumn, 1978 oil on linen, Gift of Janna S. Fitzgerald in 2013 Below: Bob Trotman, American, born 1947, Kaitlin and Martin, 2008 wood, tempera, wax, Museum purchase in 2013 columbiamuseum.org 11