The View Through a Tilted Arc
Sculpture boggles my mind. I have no idea how a person can see a form trapped in a piece of rock and chisel it free. Or, go through all that painstaking work to create a mold for liquid bronze or some other material. Of all art forms, sculpture probably intimidates me more than any other. I usually squirm when I view it, wishing those frozen people could be free and wondering what it must feel like to be imprisoned.
I never said I wasn’t crazy.
Maybe that’s why I find rapture and release in Richard Serra‘s work. His metal sculptures stagger me. I love to run through the circular ones at DIA: Beacon. I make noise like I am four years old to hear my voice mutate and pretend I am burrowing my way to the center of an exquisite sea shell. Coming upon one of his outdoor installations makes hours disappear. I want to photograph the work from every conceivable angle, using the full prism of natural light.
To me, Serra’s work is both masculine and feminine, heavy and weightless. And, whenever possible, a most excellent playground to frolic with my inner child.
Has a work of art ever made you act like a child?
This post is the fourth installment in the series Eye of the Beholder, my wandering observations about works of art that speak to me. If this is your first visit to the series, please click here to catch up on the first post, go here for the second and here for the third.
From art school to now I have always found the creation of three dimensional objects/art very hard to conceive. I used to draw through glass which led, via print making, to photography.
Roger, how does one draw through glass? I have a friend who makes prints using copper plates. Is it a similar process?
I like art I can touch. There’s a statue of Will Rogers in Oklahoma that has a shiny toe. It wasn’t made that way, It’s just that visitors to the museum seem to rub Will’s toe as they pass by. I don’t think he would’ve minded it.
I can totally see him smiling at his shiny toe. That’s a great story, Barb.
What’s that Mean?!
http://youtu.be/P95NWAHWLrc
Happy Birthday, Lou!!
http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/90
The Trial of Tilted Arc
Excellent link, Robert. Thank you.
Sterling’s Daddy is an artist. I remember posing for his sculptures – I LOVED them (he did a collection of western/wild women that I’d love to have to this day). Fantasy art. So many times I wanted to crawl inside them.
Does he still make his art, Lori? That you know of?
Not so much. He’s broken. I think that’s one of the reasons that Sterling keeps on keeping on with his dream and his goals in life – he has a very fine example of what happens when you give up on a dream – the person you become is broken. I absolutely adore Randall’s artwork! My parents have some of his artwork in their house, as do I. What a talented man he was and perhaps he will get back into it once making a living gets out of his system – that is my life wish for him. He’s a beautiful artist.
Maybe you just have to be there? I fear I am too much the realist, and think I would prefer the actual “exquisite sea shell” for my viewing pleasure.
Like most of the things I’ve shown here, they simply do not translate well to a photograph. Part of the experience is walking up on one of these things across a field or having it appear around a bend, and being able to experience it from every angle. Still might not impress, but it is a vital part of the work that doesn’t convey to words and print.
I was childlike at the sight of the lion statues at Brookfield Zoo. I climbed atop one of them and roared. Oh, wait, I was a child at the time. tee hee Actually, I appreciate sculpture, especially modern sculpture, which leaves me in awe of how the artist molded, constructed, or just plain did it.
You are lucky to have some Serra pieces near you, Penny. I’d give anything to be able to experience them regularly. Sadly, they would be considered too modern for any park where I live.
I feel childlike with a lot of Pop Art. I saw several Lichtenstein’s at San Francisco’s MOMA and loved the comic book-ness of them.
I’m partial to those myself.
Oh, all the time
I’m staying in Folkestone where sculpture is a way of life and there is a blurred line between sculpture and, I suppose, performance art. My favourite is an old martello tower converted in an installation by JChristina Iglesias, which uses mirrors to amplify the nature which has overtaken the tower. It’s an amazing piece.
Thanks for sending me a new artist to check out, Kate. I love these installation folks.
Forgot the link! http://www.folkestonetriennial.org.uk/2011-event/artists/cristina-iglesias/
I am an industrial art admirer. I like the art of the machine. Well made gears and pistons and boilers. Yes, I will admit to being odd, but a well designed and crafted piece off machinery can be art. Like a MacBook Air. Or a Jaguar E-Type. Or maybe MTM might agree to a Ducati?
How could you bring up the 50 Ducati that I have exactly 1400 pennies saved for? Of, like, 27 million???
But how can you put a price on art?!?
Hmmm…. I can’t really get a sense of the whole piece from your picture, but I love that shot of MTM in the labyrinth walls there.
There is no way to do this one in a photo. It has to be experienced.
I’m taking you back to LACMA again…but this one won’t make you cry. You might wince…
In the contemporary art wing there is a huge sculpture of Michael Jackson and Bubbles the chimp. It’s mesmerizing. I don’t recall a thing about the story behind it, but it strikes me as funny. I’m sure I have missed the point somewhere, but I giggle like a child when I see it. I have photos …I must send you one sometime!
Debra
Anything can inspire me to act like a child.
The thing I find fascinating about sculpture is the fact that it’s really not something you can fully experience from a photograph. Paintings are often nearly the same in person as in a photo, but sculpture is so different, particularly monumental stuff.
And now I am yearning for a trip to Storm King Art Center.
None of this art translates as well as I’d like, but you’re right about sculpture. It has to be experienced. I love both Storm King and DIA.