Oblivious
Artist
Dan Ostermiller
(American, born 1956)
Welder
Sam Lueker
(American)
Date2009
MediumCast bronze
Dimensions126 x 93 x 47 inches (320 x 236.2 x 119.4 cm)
Credit LinePurchase of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 2009
Object number2009.4.1
ClassificationsSculptures
DescriptionMonumental bronze sculpture depicting a sleeping bear at the top of a tree trunk. The sculpture is cast bronze with a stainless steel framework.Label TextOblivious by Dan Ostermiller depicts a sleeping bear at the top of a tree trunk. Ostermiller is renowned for his sculptural representations of wildlife. The artist was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the son of a successful taxidermist. From an early age he learned the artistic handling of animal subjects in his father's taxidermy business. Desiring to be an artist, he briefly attended a Kansas university on an art scholarship, and then studied taxidermy in Texas. He cast his first bronze in 1977 and continued to gain success through exhibitions and awards in the following years. Ostermiller's works are in the collections of the Denver Art Museum; the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming; the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming; and other museums, private collections and corporate collections.
Ostermiller lives and has his studio in Loveland, Colorado. The sculptural elements were cast at a foundry in Loveland and then the sculpture was completed in the artist's studio. The Museum's cast is number 7 in an edition of 12. Other casts are in Rancho Santa Fe, California; Big Horn, Montana; Santa Fe, New Mexico; upstate New York; Roswell, New Mexico; the Nedra Matteucci Galleries in Santa Fe, and in a private collection, in south Denver.
ProvenanceArtist; purchased August 18, 2009 through (Nedra Matteucci Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico) by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art
On View
On view
Antonio Vanetti