The Artist In His Loft By George Segal

MFA Response Essay

The piece of contemporary art I chose from the Museum of Fine Arts was The Artist in His Loft by George Segal. The Artist in His Loft is a sculpture composed of plaster, wood, porcelain, metal and some glass. The sculpture depicts a man, cast out of plaster, peering into a wall mounted mirror in a bathroom while shaving his face under a few cabinets and next to a white porcelain sink. The man in the piece looks like he has been frozen just as he is going through his morning routine and had plaster poured over him. The entire work of art, other than the silver-colored metal knobs and spout of the sink, is the same shade of white. This can cause the man to blend into the background and it is hard to distinguish certain features from some angles. The white color of the scene may infer that it is a bland and boring morning
The white on white can also create an interesting silhouette as the outline of the figure is still usually discernible giving an impression of line when viewed from straight on. The use of white also shows Segal’s minimalistic attitude towards art. Form is used in the sculpture in the design of the man and by how it is an accurate representation of the form of the human body. From is also used by having the backdrop of the counter and wall being very angular, square and simple and the body being much more curvy and natural looking in contrast. Texture is used on the man in the piece because his skin and clothes are made out of a very rough-to-the-touch looking plaster. Even though you are not physically allowed to touch the piece it is easy to guess that if you touched the sculpture of the man he would feel rough. The proportions of the man are also very similar to that of a regular man and the bathroom is the same size as one that someone would really use. One final aspect of the piece is the ability to look in the mirror and see yourself in the reflection and get the impression that you are in that bathroom