HERB ALPERT (b. 1935)

Herb Alpert is an American Jazz musician who maintains a second career as a abstract expressionist painter and sculptor. During the height of his music career, he began painting, and in the early 1980s, he began to sculpt as well. His paintings and sculpture, though a different art form, still speak to his love of music and his musical style. His sculpture has been termed “lyrical” and his latest works are meant to capture the feeling he gets when he plays jazz. They are improvisational, much like jazz, and he says he gets the same rush of energy and the same satisfaction from creating visual art as he does from creating musical art.

Artistically, he is known for his “Spirit Totem” sculptures. They have been described as “frozen smoke” and indeed, each has individually crafted twists and curves, and a sense of fluidity and movement, despite being still bronze statues. Alpert creates the molds by hand, first in small scale with wax, then in a larger clay mold, before they reach their final, large scale, forged in bronze. In regard to his process, Alpert has said, "When I paint or sculpt I don't have anything in mind. I don't have a goal other than form. I'm looking for that form that touches me and when I find it... I stop."