Bart, originally from the Netherlands, graduated from Boston University and attended classes at the  New School for Social Research. He has worked in photography, silk-screen, lithography, acrylics, oils, clay and stained glass. Bart began to draw using wire after seeing an exhibit of Alexander Calder’s wire art at the Whitney in NY 1976. Before then he used pen and ink as a medium. Bart said “Wire adds a new dimension to my art. The way the metal bends has a lot to do with how the piece turns out.  As I work with the wire a style develops naturally.  If you need to give my art a name, you might call it “condensed figurative.”  I like the piece most when the line is gentle, abbreviated and flowing – conveying emotion and only the essence of the image.” One juror noted that in Bart’s piece Friends At The Beach, “the artist has artfully utilized negative space to create volume … conveys a range of skill in conveying emotion, body/tension/relaxation, and understanding of body movement. He ingeniously conveys a sense of clear emotional connection between them”.

The final installation of the wire wall piece, a solid line in space in front of a moving shadow, has scale enough to suit a large wall without dominating the room.

Bart  Soutendk is an artist who designs and builds large and small wire wall sculptures using 9 or 12 gauge annealed steel wire. Bart’s work hangs on walls in hotels, hospitals, homes, and public and commercial locations around the world.