Untitled (Willis Box)
Artist
Robert Sestok
(American, born 1946)
Date1993-1994
MediumWood, paper, paint
Dimensions11 × 6 1/2 × 1 3/4 in. (27.9 × 16.5 × 4.4 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of John Hilberry, 2015
Object numberUAC6427
DescriptionEncountering Sestok’s “Untitled (Willis Box)” straight on, as it hangs on a wall at eye level is a perceptually disorienting experience. His mixed media box reads as a slice of cityscape, dotted with multi colored buildings lining predominantly yellow roadways that the viewer has encountered arially. The tops of some of the miniature wooden skyscrapers are decorated with lines reminiscent of a road’s center line or snippets of what appear to be partial addresses giving the work further allusions to an urban landscape. Sestok’s utilization of less sleek materials of wood, paper, and paint, often used seemingly aggressively or haphazardly, give the work a kinetic energy as well as a playfulness akin to a child’s playset made of wooden blocks, worn with love and heavy usage. This jubilant, juvenile approach to the city works well in Sestok’s catalogue of creations used to work through his thoughts on a variety of topics, his birthplace, the city of Detroit, included. The makeshift quality of “Untitled (Willis Box)” mirrors qualities aligned with the scrappy city itself as it bustles with a chaotic playful energy, albeit a little rough around the edges, a city built up by its own determined hands with optimism, a DIY spirit, and love. Michigan born artist, Robert Sestok “seeks to achieve the realization of his subconscious and creative thoughts” through his eclectic collection of works, meandering through a myriad of mediums along his creative journey. Born in 1946 in Detroit, Sestok spent much of his youth in Birmingham, Michigan, returning to Detroit in 1967 to attend the College for Creative Studies, obtaining a degree in ceramics in 1969. Sestok has furthered his artistic studies attending Cranbrook Academy of Art as well as the Pilchuck Summer Glass Blowing Workshop in Stanwood, Washington. His work has been exhibited across the United States, predominantly in Michigan, and abroad since the 1960s and is housed in many private collections nationally. James F. Duffy Jr., beloved Detroit art collector gathered many great Sestok pieces over the later decades of the 20th century, subsequently donating much of the works to the Wayne State University Art Collection. Visitors of Detroit can explore Robert Sestok’s sculpture dreamscape garden, City Sculpture, a public art park “dedicated to exposing the public to experimental sculpture work in Detroit”, featuring not only his sculptural concoctions, but rotating works by other invited artists.
Written by Kat Goffnett
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