Topsy-Turvy and Upside Down

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The EYE’s are a permanent sculpture that was commissioned for the 75^th anniversary of Williams College by the sculptor Louise Bourgeois in 2001. They are lit up at the nighttime and are quite creepy when you’re driving past later in the evening. The large stone slab sculptures are of an environmental type but it’s also has a more abstract modern feel as well. It’s very different from anything I’ve ever encountered and the different sizes really make this one of my favorite pieces.

This granite slab with bronze along with electric lights which make them light up in the night is a the perfect medium for an outdoor sculpture because it being in the northeast we do tend to have heavy winters so it’s need to be durable but still be pleasing to the eye as well which is no easy feat. As you walk up to this you’re immediately taken aback by the first two large eyes that make up the base but as you look at the smaller eyes on the left side you can appreciate the large and small aspects and also how the angles on the oval shapes are arranged where they each point in a more nothernly direction

Your vanishing point is directly poking the large eyes and there is a slant in the forefront smaller eye, but this is only true from the front side it has three dimensional form. As we move around the statue the vanishing point all but disappears in the back and it become just another granite circle with a boring kind of brown-grey color with a few raised bumps and lines and it ceases to become unique. From the side it has only one dimensional form and is must less impressive with very little illusion of movement which from the front when you walk past you can feel the eyes almost move with you watching your every move.

At night when the lights go on there’s a dramatic difference, it goes from a large rock with eyes carved into it to an eerily disembodied masterpiece which can be seen from the road as you drive past or when you’re on the campus walking past. The one eye that lacks a proper eyelid especially catches the attention because it truly feels as though it might float off the sculpture and attack you or follow you home. After all, it is a free standing group sculpture which is a common form when you’re carving stone; what most impresses me about her choice of granite is because it’s such a solid and more difficult medium to work with, it really shows her skill and talent as an sculptor and shows her very deserving of being the first woman to have an exhibit in the MOMA in NYC.

The found object sculpture called What Comes Around and its’ counterpart What Goes Around located at the Albany International Airport by Edward Mayer that was installed sometime in 2010 and still remains there today and is also both a free standing group sculpture with a subject of Traveling, what we take with us, what we journey to see, and what we return and bring with us. This is one of the many commissioned fixed piece of the art in the airport during the past few years but I feel this is the one piece that truly illustrates what an airport is and about what the most important component, the people, are doing as they go back and forth each and everyday at all hours.

The normal objects we associate with traveling were wrapped in simple plastic surveyors tape to make them each uniform so that they really did become a whole set and it really brings the eye to them because you simply have to take time to look at it several times before you completely realize what you’re observing. For example, the archway and umbrella I was only able to notice when I was standing at the far end of the terminal or about to ascend the escolator but although I could see the stroller to the far left as I was going up I honestly got a better view from the second floor.

Because this sculpture holds 3 dimensional line and perspective as the viewer you have to observe it from the back, front, and side; and then go around again because each side is suspended into space and each view is going to show a different facet of the entire piece. A monochromatic palette is a splendid way to draw more attention that if they were to use a limited palette and disorganization of the pieces gives it a shabby chic feel. He also used a variety of shapes within each piece but instead of creating shapes he utilized the natural shapes of the everyday objects.

He has skillfully blended all of the objects together so they also interlock into each-other, the lawn chair sits up on top of the tiki torch while the garden gate thing interlocks itself into a 3 shelf bookcase and that hooks into the coat rack and the luggage also makes up the base of the sculpture. In fact, you have to observe the shapes within the pieces to discern the objects of which he’s creating with. From a distance it truly does look like a pile of junk until you get closer and really look for something admire. I truly think that found objects make my favorite types of sculptures because there is always a story and deeper meaning behind them.

Sculpture

My first sculpture would be the wind sculptures of Lyman Whitaker a sculpture from Utah. These lovely sculptures have graced the lawn of The Bennington Center For the Arts in Bennington. VT since 1998. I would identify these as both abstract and environmental because they are outside in the rain wind and snow so anytime throughout the year we have a nice wind blowing you get to experience the beautiful shapes oscillating in the breeze. These are made of copper and steel and are secured using a vertical rod and are secured into the group and the smaller ones are typically cemented into the ground itself. Some are small and some are large or in-between and because they are each uniquely made you never know what shapes you might see when you’re looking at them.

The wind sculptures are free standing groups sculptures; they specifically call this grouping a forest. As I said above, these are made out of the copper and stainless steel and there are many forms used in these. The largest most prominent one has geometric diamond shapes but others are more round and irregular and are organized by type on each wind sculpture. But when the wind blows on them they have the tendency to look vastly different and much more abstract. The lines are closed when they’re not moving and are at a stand-still but once they start moving then they are more open lined.

You must observe these from all points of view and in many weather conditions to fully appreciate the complexity that this man puts into his sculptures. Sometimes they seem to transcend space and sometimes they seem to be a part of space and belong there. The color is a grey slate kind of color but infused with a whole spectrum of color that isn’t evident until the sun hits them or until they start moving. Once you see them fully sparkling and turning is when they feel the most expressive to me as if they are telling a story to you, you feel so captivated and drawn in to them and you just can’t look away.