6. Sculpture that has grooves of various depths cut into the surface plane of stone while the surface remains clearly perceptible is…
Simon Schama begins with rhetorical questions to make the readers thinking about the power of art and give a statement of how most of art’s history being assumed. He moves on to give detailed description of Mark Rothko and his arts. Schama then uses his personal experience of not being interested in Rothko’s arts to illustrate the process of the change of his perspective. Schama purposely writes, “The longer I started, the more powerful was the magnetic pull through the block columnar forms towards the interior of Rothko’s world” to make a transition of his point of views towards Rothko’s arts (401). He continues to develop the point of what makes Rothko’s arts so powerful. Schama organizes his writing in this particular order to better show…
Richard Serra develops a visual language that breaks from the history of sculptural identity. His artworks reveal the methods of construction vital to the composition of his work and allow the viewer to become involved in the process of making. The steel is ribbed on the surface, which relates immediately to the process of cutting. Furthermore, his works are not pictorial or decorative in any sense but rather are large bold industrial slabs of steel, which demonstrate the artist’s interest in revealing material specificity. Serra’s Two Cuts rejects illusionistic and pictorial traditions of sculpture: the artwork is composed of raw industrial material and orients its viewer as to the artist’s process based on title and installation. His work has a strong presence that interacts with its site of installation; the art object’s expressive qualities arise from the communication between spaces and visibly apparent methods of construction. The Ellen Johnson Wing of the Allen Memorial Art Museum is a white walled gallery, which contrasts the bold slabs of rolled steel. One is polished while the other is transparent in its forms of construction and materiality.…
It seems perverse to characterize the sculptures at the 24th Street gallery as more subtle, though the straight-edged, black steel pieces are certainly sobering. If Inside Out takes on the character of a funhouse, 7 Plates, 6 Angles is more in tune with the brutalist vocabulary of Serra's work of the 1970s and 1980s. Huge steel walls several feet wide zigzag through an expansive gallery, dividing it into triangular spaces where the plates meet at acute angles. An adjacent room is filled with 24 steel plates of varying heights, though all are roughly as tall as a person. The title of the work,…
The author suggest that we ask ourselves: “What is the purpose of this work of art (and what is the purpose of art in general)? What does it mean? What is my reaction to the work and why do I feel this way? How do the formal qualities of the work-such as color, its organization, its size and scale-affect my reaction? What do I value in works of art?”…
Chihuly's vast amount of achievements however, have only partially to do with his ability to exploit the inherent properties of glass; only partially to do with the abstract, plastic richness of his aesthetics; only partially to do, even, with his love of spectacle. Buried within these talents is an instinct for significant form and relevance. Chihuly seems to understand intuitively how certain simple form-ideas might materialize a new body of ideas and technical explorations. Even more impressive as it is, he has an unforeseen ability to recognize not just the aesthetic but the symbolic potential in what, for most of us, would…
Viola Frey was an American ceramics artist who was known first and foremost for her larger than life sculptures. Viola’s purpose behind these giant figures was to show the world (mainly the art world) that there was more to sculpting clay than small figures, bowls, and cups. In the 1960s and 70s a group of artists, including Viola Frey, wanted to create ceramics as a effective form of art. This movement was called the “Revolution in Clay”. Before this movement the standard of the art of clay was revolved around smaller scale pieces and objects like bowls, vases, and cups. This “standard” left the ceramics division of art in the dark, and it wasn’t something that people wanted to get into because it didn’t seem too challenging or exciting. The people involved in this revolution used different ways to overcome this expectation or standard. They began using new techniques in order to push the typical size scale of sculptures up. They discovered new methods for constructing, firing, and glazing that changed the department of ceramics completely. For example, Viola Frey, along with the other artist that changed the department of ceramics, introduced the idea of building in pieces and using a scaffold on the inside of the figure to hold the entire piece together. Frey struggled when it came to making her pieces because she was old and had some physical limitations. Her assistant of 17 years, Sam Perry, helped her put her crazy ideas together and help the construction process when she couldn’t do it. Her physical limitations were never an excuse for her not being able to build these larger than life sculptures. Her time spent in her studio when she was busy coming up with new ideas and constructing her pieces helped her forget about her physical setbacks, and kept her chugging along. Frey’s sculptures exceeded the size expectations in the clay world. Each of her pieces stood no shorter than 10 feet tall and weighed thousands of pounds. In order to build her figures, Frey…
His installation named “Straight” might not be the most visually impressive piece of art out there, but it tells a story in a very powerful way that not many other works can pull off. Consisting only of rebar put together lying on the ground, “Straight” isn’t something that can impress you the moment you see it. It is however, the magnitude of the work and the origin of the material that is so powerful. Together, the “nearly forty tons of salvaged rebar from the Sichuan earthquake” tells a tragic story that otherwise never made the news anywhere else. (Source #3)…
The Angel of Death and the Sculptor, sculpted by Daniel Chester French, pays tribute to a fallen American sculptor, Martin Milmore, and challenges the usual representation of Death as the horrible gruesome presence that it has been represented to be ever since the Christian era. Through a combination of high-and-low relief and in-the-round sculpting, French makes you feel almost complacent in the company of death. The benevolent face on the angel of death and the intrigued look on the face of the man, who is replicated after Martin Milmore, faithfully drives home the idea of an untimely death to a well-known artist. Ultimately, what distinguishes this piece of artwork from others are “the way death is portrayed and the history behind the artistic decisions.”…
"I'm really a freak in every place I go. I don't quite fit in the independent scene, I don't quite fit in the art scene, and I don't fit in the Hollywood scene, so I'm a weird strange fat motherfucker. I'll tell you this: I plan to stay that way, because there is something to be said… I think when you get comfortable, you start growing old. You are doing something wrong." (In Conversation with Jon Favreau) Guillermo Del Toro a great film director that does what he feels is right. Beginning with his great knowledge on makeup effects, his love for comic book, and…
Considering the work “Tilted Arc”, by Richard Serra brings many questions to mind. Especially now, one questions to role of public art and whether or not it is beneficial to taxpayer interest. The ideas of public art really had me considering the value of public opinion when it comes to art. I suppose really art is about making an impression, and that impression doesn’t have to necessarily be a positive one. There were many ideas to ruminate over with this assignment, and it is my hope that I can give clear and concise opinions on the various questions presented. First thing that I believe should be addressed is whether or not it’s “art”. When you look on the Internet and search “Tilted Arc” you certainly see a plethora of sites that found it to be a work of art. There are even posters for sale such as the “Tilted Arc defense fund” poster. Richard Serra, when speaking of the sculpture, had the following to say: “As he moves, the sculpture changes. Contraction and expansion of the sculpture result from the viewer's movement.”(pbs.org) And this movement specifically seemed to be the catalyst for its removal. People did not want to have to move around it. They may have used the question of whether or not it is “art” purely to facilitate the removal of a structure they deemed a hindrance.…
The mythological story of Icarus is “…interpreted variously as an allegory of pride, or of man’s quest for knowledge,” as The Bloomsbury Guide to Art stated in their article (“Icarus”). This idea of the quest of knowledge itself applies to the work of Russell Whiting, a sculptor whose work is featured in the River Gallery Sculpture Park of Chattanooga and who sculpted a statue of Icarus as well. In correlation with the interpretation of the story of Icarus being a man’s quest for knowledge, Whiting did not just fall in love with the process of carving steel, but also with the potential for self expression, variation, and knowledge regarding steel still left to be attained.…
“The man in mid-air… [He] is famous on the bridge, a daredevil… a solitary… a spinner… an exclamation mark.” Anonymous, “he floats at the three hinges of the crescent-shaped steel arches. These knit the bridge together. The moment of cubism… Nicholas Temelcoff.”…
or that people had to make an effort to see his works; he knew that the best things…
Before the 20th century, sculpture was considered a representational art; but its scope has now been extended to include nonrepresentational forms. Sculpting has evolved over many years and it has long been accepted that the forms of functional three – dimensional objects such as furniture, pots, and buildings can also be seen as expressive and beautiful without being any way representational. The art of sculpture has changed over the years and continues to grow everyday as seen through architecture and structural design.…