Sculptor Todd Babb 'captures motion' with polyresin creations

Todd Babb has found a compatible creative partner. After years of plying with wood, clay and metals, the Fort Myers artist has discovered his ideal medium: polyresin. He has used the material for about a year to create distinctively graceful sculptures of dancers and acrobats, usually soloists or pairs.

COURTESY PHOTO Fine art sculptor Todd Babb displays some of his pieces depicting dancers and acrobats in motion. "What I try to do is capture motion," he says. "Even when they're still, the elongation of the body parts gives a sense of motion. That's really what they're all about."

Mr. Babb was a commissioned artist for 10 years and worked with Dupont Corian. Now his fine art sells to 95 percent residential. Homeowners often put his pieces in the entryway, foyer or common room, though some customers have placed them in a guest bedroom. "I never know what people are going to be captured by," he says. "The pure inspiration pieces seem to be the ones people gravitate to."

His first piece was of a dancer. "It was a very simple pose, but just the elegance of the form was very inspiring," he says. "From then it turned into all full of motion."

Clients have commented about Mr. Babb's accuracy in the dance poses he depicts. His wife, a former ballet dancer who performed with the Miami City Ballet, doesn't let breaches in rules go unnoticed.

Other works portray acrobatic moves he views as seemingly impossible. "I watch the Chinese acrobats, and I'm just overwhelmed by what they're doing with themselves," he says. "I want to try and capture that in some way."

He starts a sculpture by creating an armature that is built up to look like an actual form. Then he applies the resin and uses a high-speed hand tool to carve it down, which he does in a partially open work station in the studio back yard because the resin creates so much dust. He repeats the application and carving until the material becomes smoother.

The resin works so well because it is malleable. "It's very light, so it allows me to do things," he says. "This off balance and the elongation, I can't do that in any other material. The light weight and the strength of the inner core just makes things possible that aren't possible with any of those other materials."

Most subjects are women, though some sculptures have men, especially when they are shown lifting a female partner. The figures don't have facial features, just hair, which has a layered texture to highlight the sweeping movement of the figure. "The hair is sort of like my signature," Mr. Babb says. "It helps with the motion. The hair, for me, is an integral part. It's just part of the character."

Body parts are not defined except for the hands, which occasionally are accentuated if central to the pose. For example, one figure appears to be grabbing air because the hand is cupped and fingers are spread. The figures typically lack clothing, but select male subjects have tattered pants to enhance the notion of movement. "The real idea is to keep them very contemporary and almost abstract," he says. "It's almost figurative abstract."

Finished pieces appear bronze, nearly all of them anchored by a base that makes up most of the work's weight. Even with a square, oval or circular base, a piece weighs mere pounds. The shapes of the base vary according to the motion of the piece. A work about two lovers leaping has a circular base because he says "the feel of the piece is very circular."

Any given day, Mr. Babb works on multiple pieces in various stages of production. The tallest piece he has done reached 6 feet, although more commonly the pieces are shorter. A 5½-foot piece he is creating now will take about two weeks to complete, he says, and smaller ones are done in less than two days. "I can do five to 10 very comfortably in a week," says Mr. Babb, who calculates that he has sold more than 100 pieces in the past year.

Smaller pieces cost $80 to $160, he says, larger ones $2,000 to $3,000. The $200 to $500 pieces have remained popular.

Mr. Babb also has been a painter, but his heart lies in the sculpture. "I can do the sculpture so much faster," he says, "and I can express myself so much easier in sculpture. As a production, sculpture seems to be the thing that works.''

He averages 25 shows a year and will have a gallery opening in Atlanta in January. His work, which can be seen on toddandrewbabb.com, is displayed at Tower Gallery on Sanibel Island and Space 39 in Fort Myers.