After graduating, Erdman traveled to Carrara, Italy, the world’s finest source of marble. There, he found, as he puts it, “worlds of possibility and wonder in the sublime beauty of ancient stone.” An early apprenticeship with master stone carvers in Carrara grew into a 35-year relationship with family-run studio SGF Scultura that continues to this day.
In 1983, Erdman was commissioned to contribute a landmark sculpture in travertine to the world-renowned Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo. in Purchase, New York. Passage, carved from a single 350-ton block of stone, keeps company with works by 20th century masters including Alexander Calder, Jean Debuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, and Claes Oldenburg.
Erdman’s marble and bronze sculptures are internationally celebrated for their provocative language of curves and contrast, their dialogue with timescales both geologic and human, and their gesture towards the transcendent power of natural phenomena. His work can be found in 140 museum, public, and private collections spanning six continents, and has been featured in 160 solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Notable collections include the United Nations, Museum of Fine Art Boston, Princeton University, The Rockefeller Collection, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo.
- Courtesy of Richard Erdman Gallery
Salient II teems with exuberance and movement, resembling a lively dance of curves. It radiates energy and potential, much like a bud reaching for the sun after a long winter. The form is perpetually changing, continuously reshaping itself. Similar to the elements of wind, water, and clouds, the crystalline structure of marble echoes nature and time, revealing its geological history and the ancient marine life that once existed within it—seemingly eternal and ever-present.
