George Tobolowsky Sculpture

George Tobolowsky is sketching in his notebook. He begins with a big circle that looks as if it is perched on a tilted ice cream cone. He scribbles what resemble beads of ice cream dribbling down the outside of the cone.

Watching him sketch, you would think you were watching a little boy learn how different shapes connect to form his favorite dessert, but George Tobolowsky has the power to bring abstract shapes to life.

Tobolowsky, a Dallas native, is gaining attention for his abstract steel creations. It was not until he traded in his corporate experience to pursue his passion for sculpting that people came to admire his work.

"Art is personal. It comes from personal events," said Tobolowsky, 61.

The Sculptor Today

Despite his passion for sculpting, Tobolowsky put his art on hold while he started a family and explored corporate America. He worked for some prestigious names in the business, including the Zale Corporation, and he also owned some Blockbuster Video franchises in the Washington D.C. area.

It was not until after Tobolowsky had established his name in the corporate sector that he met Mark Kutler, now a longtime friend. After developing a close friendship, Tobolowsky began to invite Kutler to his family's Thanksgiving Day festivities. One Thanksgiving, Tobolowsky pulled Kutler aside and asked him if he'd be interested in building a studio out in Mountain Springs, Texas. Kutler did not think twice before accepting the invitation.

"We worked on the weekends up there building the barn, but I never knew we'd be doing art," said Kutler. After the studio was complete, Tobolowsky did not waste any time getting to work on his sculpting. However, the process to prepare the particular pieces for his sculptures is detail oriented and takes time to complete.

Tobolowsky collects the different objects he uses in his pieces from junkyards. After he selects a few objects, he begins to sketch different possibilities for how the objects may fit together. Once he decides on a design, the assembly process begins. Tobolowsky explains that the key is to clean each piece before assembling it. The cleaning process involves grinding the metal, which can take about a week for a small piece or up to a month to clean a large piece.

When Kutler helps Tobolowsky, he mainly cleans the pieces. He says the grinding is not the most glamorous job, but it is something that must be done to perfect the piece. With the laborious effort needed to produce one piece, Tobolowsky produces about 30-35 pieces in a year.

Tobolowsky's artwork appears in galleries and private collections across the country. Locally, his work is featured on the SMU campus, as well as many other public exhibitions. His most recent exhibition will be held in Abeline for the 30th Abeline Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. He has also traveled to Vail, Colorado to participate in a sculpture exhibit. His artwork is available for private collections upon request.

The Sculptor Then

For nearly 30 years, Tobolowsky utilized his business and law degrees. He graduated from SMU in 1970 with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Sculpturing. Four years later he emerged with an SMU law degree.

When asked why he pursued such a demanding degree, he said, "I always say you need a law degree to watch the news."

In between the completion of his business degree and pursuing a degree in law, Tobolowsky enlisted in an Army reserve unit during the Vietnam War. He spent six months training for overseas combat, but was never deployed. During his training, he remained in Texas and actually studied law for a year and a half at a university in San Antonio before he returned to SMU to complete his degree.

While on campus, Tobolowsky spent a lot of time at the Meadows School of the Arts, sculpting. He describes the daunting task of earning a law degree as a very rigorous process.

"I was always over at the Art School doing something to keep my sanity," he said.

Tobolowsky's main influences are artists David Smith and Louise Nevelson. Tobolowsky molds the complex, abstract arrangement of shapes developed by Nevelson, and couples them with the welding of metal, which is signature of David Smith. The combination of the two styles enables Tobolowsky to add his own element to each of his pieces.

"His work is really interesting because of the way he integrates the influence of two major artists, yet he still manages to add his own touch to each piece," said SMU art major Dana Long, who has studied Tobolowsky's work.

There is more to the man behind the sculpture than his ability to generate sculpted artwork. Tobolowsky is a venerated artist, businessman, engineer and father. When describing Tobolowsky, Kutler does not have enough positive things to say about his friend.

"George is probably one of the funniest guys I've ever met. He sometimes says things that you'd never think would come out of his mouth and that dry humor catches everyone off guard," Kutler said.

This dry sense of humor may explain the witty titles of most of his artwork. Each sculpture that Tobolowsky constructs has a story behind it that can be tied back to his own life experience ranging from memories of his grandfather's farm to a parody on how large computers were in the 1960s.

Since Tobolowsky's name is so long, he decided to create a piece that speaks for itself as to who created it. This piece focuses on a horizonal piece of metal that depicts a compressed sine wave's twists and turns. It seems to mimic a hurried cursive signature of the artist. Tobolowsky calls it: "My Signature Piece."