A new sculpture by eminent artist Greg Wyatt goes on view today at The Gallatin Galleries of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU in the Gallatin Faculty Show 2013, which will be open to the public free of charge through January 16, 2014. 

The seven-and-a-half-foot tall bronze presents the Roman goddess Luna with her torso and legs draped in a cascading garment that suggests her close connection with the tug and pull of the moon’s effect on the earth’s waters. 

Made of cast bronze, Luna is a unique sculpture that dates from 2013 has the hallmarks of Wyatt’s distinctive work: an allegorical figure created with exacting attention to detail, a lyrical composition, a carefully burnished patina, and a work of art inspired by the mastery of Renaissance sculptors and inflected with a contemporary sensibility.

In Luna, Wyatt creates a tour de force of textures.  The figure’s torso and legs are highly polished and smooth as a woman’s skin.  The draped textile that descends from her left shoulder, encircles her hips, and falls around her legs has a richly-worked crinkled and textured surface that is in stark contrast to gleamingly smooth figure. 

Romans venerated Luna as a goddess of the moon and a patron of the feminine   She was believed to inspire love and hold control over imagination through dreams, which were felt to mask reality and pierce illusion, and could spark psychic visions.  Luna was the deity who lifted the subconscious from its cloudy realms and brought its instinctual awareness and insight into the knowable and eternal present.

Wyatt is a part time faculty member of The Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU and Sculptor-in-Residence of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. 

Among the world’s pre-eminent artists working in cast bronze, Wyatt is best known for his monumental public sculptures, including Peace Fountain at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, NY, Soaring American Eagle at the U.S. Department of State, and Price of Freedom at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.  He has created commissioned works that are on view in Asia, Europe, and North America and are included in dozens of public collections, including the Museo Archeologico Regionale di Agrigento in Sicily, Italy; the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, England; Peking University, the People’s Republic of China; the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; and Brookgreen Gardens Museum, SC. 

Additionally, his work has been presented in exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Istituto Statale d’Arte di Firenze, Florence, Italy; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; and the National Academy of Design (now the National Academy Museum), New York, NY among many others. 

Luna is presented courtesy of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, the New York-based non-profit that raises funds for scholarships and presents cultural events that foster an appreciation of Italian-American heritage and achievement, including New York City’s annual Columbus Day Parade.  Wyatt consults with the Foundation on its Franco Zeffirelli Scholarship Fund for the Arts, which provides scholarships for students from Italy and the United States in a trans-national arts program.  He also provides instruction for students visiting New York from Italy.  Wyatt donated Luna to the Foundation for future sale with proceeds going to the Zeffirelli Scholarship Fund. 

About The Gallatin Galleries: The Galleries engage with contemporary social issues through a broad spectrum of contemporary art, documents and events. The Galleries opened in March 2009 as part of the newly renovated Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU in New York City.