MADAMA BUTTERFLY
David Kocka (American)
Bronze
This emotive bronze was inspired by the Japanese tragedy Madame Butterfly, a Puccini opera based on a short story by John Luther Long. Kocka combines a gesticulating female figure with abstract wing-like forms to create a petite yet poignant expression of human fragility. His loose modeling style conveys a sense of immediacy and certain vulnerability that lends itself to dramatic depictions of figures in extreme emotional states such as torment or ecstasy.
Kocka draws no distinctions between art and spirituality, between the secular and the sacred. Working as both a sculptor and a Franciscan priest at the Mount St. Francis retreat center in nearby southern Indiana, he views the rituals of art, faith, and everyday life as inseparable.
