Excerpts About Emil A. Sauer

“Emil A. Sauer is a sculptor who makes use of found objects. Rattlesnake Archer, evocative of Sagittarius, with the same hefty dose of imagination that seeing the image in the constellation requires, is put together from old farm equipment, iron and weathered wood. It is a well-worn article of current faith that found objects are permissible as art. The dividing line is surely as elusive – take Picasso’s bull – as any in the quicksand semantics of the trade. But Sauer’s put-together objects work. They come off as an arresting, asymmetric composition of two fan shapes on a fulcrum rather like a creaking seesaw frozen in a pose, all subtle greys and cast shadows. A hair-fine deliberation can be sensed in the placement and relationship, part to part, of this fan of spokes and wood holding up and balancing a dissimilar other half.” Ivan Karp interviewed in Southwest Art.

“. . . the baroquely bravura bronzes of Emil Sauer (whose blue-chip sculptures drew a throng on the frigidest night of the year, poised at Zenith’s plate-glass entrance a quarter hour or so before show time like settlers at a Cimarron land rush).” Harry Schwalb, Pittsburgh.

“His metal sculptures . . . come together from objects discovered in a variety of sources – abandoned reels that once contained telephone cable, farming implements, and other things. These he welds together, his artistic vision – that particular way of seeing with which artists are endowed – coming into play. They are more pieces for an outdoor or commercial space rather than a sculpture you would put on your piano.” Kelly Walton, City Life, Tempe, Arizone

“Hanging like mobiles from the 10-foot ceiling, the sculptures look like kites. They are constructed from white tissue paper held together by stamps. A flimsiness shows in their movement at the slightest breeze. This is the first time Sauer has used paper as a medium. He is noted for his work in metals and bronze.” Bruce Trethewy, Tempe Daily News.

“What inspired this project, which is one of seven that were produced over a 12-year period in various states, was his observation of light and form created by the position of a person’s hands. The drawings on display were done over a three-month period in Cincinnati.” Bullseye, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.