COLGATE — When I got to my story today, my jaw dropped. That doesn’t happen easily.
The place I visited was wonderfully weird and beautiful. It was full of abstract metal art. There were literally thousands of sculptures filling up one artist's backyard.
The place I'm talking about is Bobrowitz Sculpture. It's a sculpture garden and gallery surrounding Paul Bobrowitz's Colgate home in Washington County.
"The metal a lot of times is just screaming what it wants to be," Bobrowitz said.
He makes sculptures from wood, plastic, metal, bone, stone, and whatever else he can put together.
Rather than put his art behind closed doors, at art fairs, or just on a website, he invites the public to his home. His home is his gallery. It features everything he has made and all of the sculptures he will make.
"I’ve had people say it’s a religious experience being here," Bobrowitz said.
The gallery and garden is free to walk around from about 9 am to 5 pm every day. On a winter weekend, he may get a dozen visitors. During the peak summer season, hundreds of visitors will walk through his yard. However, if there is a chain up in front of the driveway, that means it's closed.
What I love about abstract art like this is that these crazy ideas came from somebody’s mind, and the artist was able to create something beautiful.
"It fills my unmet needs in my gut. It just feels good to make cool things and then have people like you come out and say, ‘Oh, this is overwhelming. Oh, this is so cool,'" he said.
Which is exactly what I thought when I pulled into the driveway.
Click the video to see what Bobrowitz Sculpture looks like...
Paul’s sculptures focus on relationships—with ourselves, with others, and with nature.
"The world in balance with nature," he said.
Sometimes his art is provocative. It gets the people going.
"So if you’re putting out public art, choose something controversial because you’re going to get more engagement than if you just take the safe and sane and everybody can agree on it," he said about a giant metal head made up of similar-looking smaller metal faces.
Paul has sold his art all across the nation. While the 73-year-old has had a successful career, he isn’t slowing down.
“So now I’ve got more time and I’m making more pieces but I'm still selling the same amount which is not enough to keep up with my output.”
Beyond his home gallery, you can find his art at schools, McDonald’s, parks, and even outside Lakefront Brewery.
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