Standing almost ten feet high, Mel Kendrick's Black Trunk was cast in bronze from a wood sculpture for a pattern, then patinated a deep black.  The interior, lined with lead, is visible through butterfly-shaped notches that resemble joints sometimes used by fine wood craftsmen.  The original version of Black Trunk dates from 1995 and was carved from a partially decomposed tree trunk, then cut into six sections and stacked atop one another.  Kendrick has been working in wood throughout his career and many pieces have been transformed by casting them in bronze.

Kendrick was born in Boston and earned a BA from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.  In 1973, he earned a MA from Hunter College in New York City where he studied with Robert Morris and Tony Smith; and worked as a studio assistant for Dorothea Rockburne.  His works have been exhibited since the mid-1970s at many prestigious galleries and museums, such as the John Weber Gallery; the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, all of which are located in New York City; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT; The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT; Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, FL; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ; and on various university campuses.  Kendrick is included in numerous notable public and private collections: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL.  He currently teaches a graduate studio art program at Hunter College in New York City and is represented by Elyse Goldberg/Project One Gallery, also in Manhattan.

Black Trunk, 1997
cast bronze, 1/2
116" x 59" x 52"
Courtesy of the Artist and The Sculpture Foundation, Inc.