Laocoon - by Joseph Wesner, 1955-2001

Stainless Steel - 1984, Birmingham, Michigan

Joseph Wesner was born in Philadelphia. He earned a BA from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a MFA from Cranbrook Art Academy in 1980. Four years later he joined the College for Creative Studies faculty and in 1990 became Chair of their Sculpture program till his untimely death in 2001. He was known as a remarkable artist and teacher and a tireless advocate for students.

Wesner cast and welded metal sculptures that are strong, muscular, romantic and poetic. He received his inspiration from a variety of sources, including art history (everything from Rodin to Pop), religion (Moses, Pieta), literature (the Romeo and Juliet series) and world travels/human rights (artist residency in China). He was generous with his art, pouring his sense and sensitivity into it: reaching out, communicating. He used mostly stone and metal, but also some bamboo and rattan. Rocks were especially fascinating to him. He stated "they are the soul of things, the essence of things." He worked in the "lost wax" method of casting bronze, dating from the first dynasties of China, as early as 1500B.C.E. In 1990 he traveled to China to do a residency at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. The only other American artist to do this was Robert Rauschenberg. This had a enormous influence on his work. This trip was shortly after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In April of 1989, over 1 million students, doctors, professors, laborers from factories, and writers gathered to demonstrate for democracy in Beijing.

His influence for this sculpture, Laocoon lies in the tale of a Trojan priest of Apollo, named Laocoon, who protested during the Trojan War against bringing the wooden horse into Troy. This offended the god and Laocoon was killed with his two sons by two sea serpents. The Vatican statue (1st c. BC) showing the struggle with serpents gave rise to Lessing's essay on the proper subject of painting and poetry.