As their titles suggest, these works of Bill Barrett move with grace and vitality: 

Bolero, Taurus, Equipoise. But their origins are deeper than the dancers and

movements they clearly evoke. Rodin, Henry Moore, the Futurists all had an

influence on Barrett, and here one gets a glimpse of Degas.  The more

profound influences have come from two-dimensional art:  expressionism,

Asian calligraphy and, deepest of all, surrealism.  Surrealism as process rather

than image; surrealism as access to the locus of memory and feeling, to the

place where the human inclination to sing and to move gracefully has its origins.

Representing the evanescent in bronze is no mean feat.  For Barrett it took

40 years of refining technique to the point where technique could disappear

in works that were as much essence as object.  His enabling invention starts

with his drawing forms freely in wax.  He selects and combines these elements

into free-standing wax models the best of which are cast in bronze. The larger

versions he fabricates - impeccably - from bronze sheet.  Through it all, the

expressive freedom of drawing is retained but, inevitably, the process is

influenced  by temperament.  How lucky we are that this sculptor's

temperament, in defiance of the aesthetic rules of the age, avoids the

dark places of our subconscious  to create works of verve and harmony

and, in the ultimate act of defiance, of sheer beauty.

            Philip F. Palmedo, author of the book,

            BILL BARRETT, Evolution of a Sculptor

            published by Hudson Hills Press