Martin puryear creates sculpture with traditional techniques used by

Architecture Art Or Science?

Topic: Is Architecture Art or Science?

Write an essay that addresses the following questions: How is architecture both a science and an art? Are there any similarities between sculpture and architecture? Can architecture be functional and expressive? Does function take precedence over creative expression in architecture? Cite examples of architectural innovations from the textbook.

THINK A H E A D

12.1 Distinguish sculpture as three-dimensional att that viewers eacamine from multiple perspectives.

12.2 Compaze examples of freestanding and relief sculpture.

12.3 Describe additive, subtractive, and constructive techniques used to make sculprure.

12.4 Identify materials used in sculpture including kinetic and mixed media works.

12.5 Discuss the use of ins[allation and site-specific as ro transform their surroundings.

Most viewers who approach Martin Puryear's work

C.F.A.O. (fig. 12.1, lefr) will first see a dizzying welter

of wood pieces, stacked in a loose network and glued

together, axop an old wheelbarrow. Mostly unpainted,

the stack of pieces seems to have a rectilinear organiza-

cion, but it is coo dense to see through. It is also, ac 8

feet 5 inches, rather tall. It looks as if someone may

have thought of a unique way of bringing home the

day's purchases from the lumber yard.

Buz if we walk around is and look from the

other side (fig. 12.1, right), we see the reason for the

apparent density of the work: a large, curving shape,

based on an elongated African mask, chat the aztist

painted white. Cleazly, in order to see and grasp this

work, we must walk around it and e~camine it from

various angles.

As C.F.A.O. illustrates, sculpture is a work in three

dimensions: It has height, breadth, and depth. It thus

exists in space, as we do. As we look ac a sculpture, the

total experience of the piece is the sum of its masses,

surfaces, and profiles. In this chapter we will consider

the two main types of sculpture—freestanding and

relief—and expbre the various methods and materials

used to create them.

(G~-{Listen to the chapter audio on myartslab.com

Freestanding and Relief Sculpture Sculpture meant to be seen from all sides is called in-

the-round, or freestanding. As we move around it,

our experience of a sculpture is the sum of iu various

aspects. A single photograph shows only one view of

a sculpture under one kind of light, thus, we receive

only a limited impression of a sculpture unless we can

see many photographs oy better yet, a video; or best of

all, view the piece ourselves.

A sculpture that is not freestanding but projects

from a background surface is in relief. In low-relief

(sometimes called bas-relied sculpture, the projec-

tion from the surrounding surface is s

shadows are minimal. Coins, for exaR

low-relief sculpture stamped from mo

in the art of coin design was reached

Sicily during the classical period of

The Apollo coin (fig. 12.2), shown h

than actual size, has a strong presence

in low relief and very small.

Some of the world's best and r

relief sculptures are found at the to

Wat in Cambodia. This vast temple

center of the Khmer empire in the

Here Kluwer kings sponsored an ex

of sculpxure and archi~ecmre. With

188 CHAPTER 12 SCULPTURE

of the complex, carvings aze in such delicare low relief that they seem more like paintings than sculpture. One scene, Army on the March (fig. 12.3), depicts a king's army commanded by a prince. The rhythmic pattern of the spear-carrying soldiers contrasts with the curv- ing patterns of the jungle foliage in the background. The soldiers and background provide a setting for the prince, who stands with bow and azrow poised in his carriage on the elephant's back Intricate detail covers entire surfaces oFrhe stone walls.

In high-relief sculpture, more than half of the nao- ural circumference of the modeled Form projects from the surrounding surface, and figures aze ohen subs[an- tially undercut.

This is the case with Robert Longo's Carporare Wars: Wall of Influenre (fig. 12.4), where male and

SCUIPTU RE CHAPTER 12 ~gq

12.1 Martin Puryear. C.F.A.O. 2006-2007. Painted and unpainted pine and found wheelburow. 8'S' x 6'S~" x 61". 71» hWseum of hbdern An, Nw. Yark. Cwrbry of the n~K.~ caik.~. vhom wdw~d c,~dY.

12.4 Robcrc Longo. Corporate iY/ars: WaL! ofln~luenre. 1982. Middle portion. Case aluminum. 7' X 9'. Cwm.y of she ornst and Metro Pictures.

O [Watch a video about the technique of relief sculpture carving on myartslab.com

female figures convulse in painfiil wnflict. Much of the

composition is high relief; in only a few azeas aze limbs

and garments barely raised above the background sur-

face. Dynamic gestures and [he diagonal placement of

torsos and limbs make the sculpture very active. The

emotional chazge of the piece suggests that Longo is

horrified by the intense competition of corporate life.

Methods and Materials Traditionally, sculpture has been made by modeling,

casting, carving, cons[ructing, and usembling, or a

combination of these processes.

Mocle~ing Modeling is usually an additive process. Pliable mate-

rial such as clay, wa~c, or plaster is built up, removed,

and pushed into a final form.

Culnues around the world have lek us e~camples of

cheir arcs through modeled ceramics. Tool mazks and

12.5 Ba!!playn with Three-Part Yoke and Bid Headdreu. Maya Classic period. 600-800. Ceramic with traces

of blue pigment. 13"hz" X 7".

r~~ u~~y,u~ row,~m. nw~~m a,~d,o~, ro..+.. r~,m~d, ate, of 1711, Fund, in lanor d Gilldl G. Griffin m his 70~h bir*doy. 1998-36. Phob by Biuu M. While. Phdog~Ph: r~~~ u~~K~s~y nn nw~/an Remurce NY/Scda, Fbrence.

fingerprint impressions aze visible on the surface as evi- dence of the modeling cechnique employed co make Ballplayer with Three-Part Yake and Bird Headdrers (fig. 12.5). Body volume, natural gesture, and cos- tumedetail aze clearly defined. The ancient Maya, who lived in what aze now pazts of Meuico, Guatemala, and Honduras, used clay to create fine ceramic vessels and lively naturalistic xulprures like this one.

The working consistencies of clay, wa~c, and plaster are soft. To prevent sagging, sculptors usually staff all but very small pieces with a rigid inner suppon called an azmature. When clay is modeled to form large sculptures, the total piece can be built in relatively

small, separately fired, structurally self-sufficient sec- tions, thereby eliminating the need for an armaxure.

Viola Frey used an azmature to create her work Stubborn Woman, Orange Hands (6g. 12.6). Like most clay works of this size, ii is hollow; the aaisc cut it into pieces for more convenient firing. The armature held it up as she worked on it. Typical of Frey's style, this figure is lazger than life-size. It depicts Everywoman, staring resolutely forward. She is unclothed because the artist thought that women were more powerful in their "bitthday suits." She left the seams between the patts visible, admitting viewers into the creative process.

190 CHAPTER 12 SCULPTURE SCULPTURE CHAPTER 12 ~q~

12.6 Viola Frey. Stubborn Woman, Orange HanCs. 2004. Ceramic. 72" X 80" X 72". Co~rlesy of W my Hollmon Gallery Art m Artizti legory Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New Yoek, NV.

12.3 Army on the March.

Relief From Mgkor Wat, The Great Temple of [he Khmers, Cambodia. 1100-1150. Sandstone. imo 61ifs Piwres/Ge11y Image.

12.7 Ken Price. Vink. 2009. Acrylic on fired ceramic. 9" X 20'" X ll ". L.A. Inuver, Veniw, CP..

Artworks made throughmodeling need not be

representational, as Ken Price's Vink (fig. 12.7) shows.

He modeled this work out of clay, fired it, painted it

with multiple layers of acrylic paint, and then sanded

the surface to expose spots of the paint layers below.

Though the tide refers to a small European songbird,

any resemblance is coincidental. Rather, this piece sug-

gestsbody parts, undersea organisms yet undiscovered,

or some kind of knobby plant life. The iridescent color

adds to the mysteriousness of the shape.

Casting Casting processes make it possible to execute a work

in an easily handled medium (such as clay) and then

[o reproduce the resul[s in a mote permanent mate-

rial (such as bronze). Because most casting involves

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12.8 The Casting Process.

o-[Watch a video about the technique of lost-wax bronze casting on myartslab.tom

the substi[ution of one maxerial for anoeher, caso- ing is also called a substitution process. The process of bronze casting was highly developed in ancient

China, Greece, Rome, and pazts of Africa. It has been

used e~ctensively in the West from the Renaissance to

modern times. Casting requires several steps. First, a mold is

taken from the original work. The process o£ mak-

ing the mold vazies, depending

on the material of the original

and the material used in the j' casting. In any case, the mold

completely surrounds the orig- final, leaving no gaps. Materials that will harden can be used to

make molds: clay diluted with water, molten metal, concrete,

or liquid plastic. Second, xhe original sculp[ure is removed from xhe mold; this may require disassembly of either the original or [he mold. Neact, the casting liquid is poured into the resulting hollow cavity of the mold. Finally, when the casting liquid has hardened, the mold is removed.

Some casting processes use

molds or fle~cible ma[erials that allow many casts to be made from the same mold; with other

processes, such as the losawax process (fig. 12.8), the mold is destroyed to remove the hazdened cast, thus

permitting the creation of only a single cast.

Castings can be solid or hollow, depending on the casing method. The cost and the weight of [he material often help determine which casting method will be used fot a specific work. The Statue of Liberty in New York hazbor, for example, was cas[ in many pieces and reassembled into a hollowwhole on site; an elaborate azmature holds it up.

The process of casting a large object like Giacome[ti's Man Painting (see fig. 3.14) is extremely complicated. Except for small pieces that can be cast solid, most aztisrs turn their originals over to foundry elcperts, who make the molds and do the casting. Most of our monuments in public parks were cast in bronze from artists' clay or waac models. Robert Longo's Corporate Warr: Wall oflnfluence (see fig. 12.4) is made from cast aluminum.

Many items are cast besides ar[, such as auto- mobile engine parts, some dishes, and children's toys. Chazles Ray made witty reference to the latter in his cast steel work Father Figure (fig. 12.9). He based it on a green plastic roy tractor, which he enlarged ro life- siu in a plaster model before casting in solid steel. The work weighs more [han 1$ tons, and irs original roy- like nature has vanished as the "father figure" looms up, faintly menacing, at one with his machinery.

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'~ 12.10 Kaz Oshiro. Tailgate (OTA). 2006. Acrylic and Bondo on tamers. 53" x 17'fe" X 1%". Bo[rom edge 12" Erom wall. callecnon of Barry Sloane, Los nngeles.

o-[Watch a podcast interview with Kaz Oshiro about Tailgate (OTA) on myartslab.com

Kaz Oshiro used paint, canvas, and Bondo putty m create the strikingly realistic Tailgate (OTA) (fig. 12.10). This eye-popping work duplicates the size, shape, and worn look of a real pickup truck tailgate. He completed the illusion with Bondo, a compound used in auto body repair shops. Viewers who peer around behind the work are rewarded with a glimpse of the wooden azmature tha[ holds it together. Tailgate, like Father Figure, uses sculpture's three-dimensional presence to play an elaborate game between image and reality.

192 CHAPTER 12 SCULPTURE . SCULPTURE CHAPTER 12 793

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12.9 Charles Ray. Father Figum. 2007. Painted steel. 93%` X 137' X 7 V'~". ~ CMrles Roy, Ca~rlasy NwMhew Marks Gallery, Naw York.

Sculptors such as Oslvro who attempt to fool our

eyes with works that resemble real ehi~gs aze working

in an ancient Western tradi[ion that values realism as

evidence of artistic skill. According to myth, the clas-

sical Greek artist Zeuxis once painred a man holding a

12.11 Rachel Whiceread. Untitled (Hive) L 2007-2008. Resin (two pazu). 32 ~" X 20's/~" X 253/6". ~ Rachel Whitarmd. Ca~rlery Gagosion Gallery

bowl of grapes so realistically that a bird flew down and

tried to eat the fruit. Zeuxis was unsatisfied with the

work, however, because, he reasoned, if he had painted

the man with equal skill, the figure would have fright-

ened the bird away. Unfortunately, none of his works

survives. The belief that the greao-

esc azdsts aze the best at cap[uring

a likeness still holds much sway

in our society, and ar[ists such as

Oshiro make chazming allusion to

it in their works.

English artist Rachel

Whiteread uses new materials such

as polyvinyl resin in fascinating

cast pieces that turn empty spaces

into solid volumes. To create

Untitled (Hive) I (fig. 12.11),

she filled a beekeeper's hive with

lustrous, brown-orange resin and

then took away the hive to leave

only she interior, now rendered

solid. In casting, artists make use

of absence and presence, replac-

ing one substance with another.

By casting empty volumes,

Whiteread gives absence a new

kind of haunting presence.

Carving Carving away unwanted material eo form a sculptttr~ is a subtractive process. Michelangelo preferred chi; method. Close observation of his chisel marks on thr surfaces of the unfinishedAwakeningSlave (fig. 12.12;

I~ reveals the steps he took toward incLeasingly refinec cutting, even before he had roughed out the figuxc from all sides. Because Michelangelo lefr this piece it an unfinished state, ii seems as though we aze lookin€

• over his shoulder midway through the carving process For him, making sculpture was a process of releasin€ the form from within the block of stone. This is onE of four figures, later called Slaves, that Michelangelo abandoned in various stages of complerion.

Carving is the mos[ challenging of the three basic sculptural methods because it is a one-way techniqu< chae provides little or no opportunity to correct errors Before beginning to cut, the sculptor must visualizf the finished Eorm from every angle within the origina block of material. (Another example of Michelangeld; carving is his Pletd, see fig. 4.20.)

The vazious types of scone with their differem characteristics greatly influence the type of care ing that can be done with them. The marble that Michelangelo and many sculptors in [he Europeac tradition prefer is typically soft and workable enougl' chat it can be cut with a chisel. Final polishing witk a light abrasive yields a smooth and creamy surface not unlike human skin. Marble has been a preferrec material in the West for outdoor sculpture for cem turies, but modern air pollution and acid rain hares the scone, making it far less desirable xoday. Granite avoids these pitfalls, and thus is open used for out door monuments such as tombstones, but granite i;

j so hard that carving in detail is difficult. Sandstones ~ and limestone are sedimentary materials that have j also found wide use in many parts of the world. The

Cambodian creators of Army on the March, for exam- ple (see fig. 12.3), took advantage of the qualities of sandstone. Sedimentary stones aze relatively sof[ allowing much detail, and can be polished to a higF

' gloss, though weather reduces this over time.

The ancient Egyptians used schise, a dense stone similar to slate. The jade that the Chinese favored is so hard and brittle that it can only be ground down by abrasion or filing; hence it is suitable only for

194 CHAPTER 12 SCULPTURE SCULPTURE CHAPTER 12 195

12.12 Michelangelo Buonazmti.Awakening Slrtve.

1530-1534. Galleries delPAccademia.

Mazble. Height 9'. aks-Images/Rabani~ Domtnpfe.

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small pieces. The disk, or bi (fig. 12.13), found in a

Chinese royal tomb is an exquisite example of carving

using pale green nephrite, a tare type of jade. Chinese

workers ground xhe stone nearly nvo thousand years

ago, using drills and quartz sand in a highly laborious

process. The results of their work in this piece show

a rare order of quality; the raised circles in the disk

(called bosses) line up in perfectly even rows, and

the feline monster above shows a rounded body and

graceful, cao-like movement, amid a pattern that sug-

gests clouds and wind.

In wood carving, many sculptors prefer wal-

nut and cypress because of their strength and ease

of working. The gesture of the mother in Elizabeth

Cadett's carved Mother and Child (fig. 12.14) sug-

gests anguish, perhaps over the struggles all mothers

know each child will face. Both figures have been

abscraaed in a composition of bold sweeping curves

and essential shapes. Solidiry of the mass is relieved

by the open space between the uplihed chin and

raised elbow and by the convex and concave surfaces.

An engraved line indicating the mother's right hand

accents the surface of the form. The highly polished

smooth wood invites the viewer to touch.

Martin Puryear manipulates and shapes wood in

several differen[ ways. In C.EA.O. (see fig. 12.1), he

combined carving with mere stacking. His pieces also

o&en involve carving, assembling, and then finishing,

as in Hominid (see fig. 12.16), a Finely crafred shape

measuring more than 6 fee[ tall.

Martin Puryear (b. 1941 j: Shaping Possibilities Why become a sculpbr2 Then, in the rear of the work is on irregular polygonal os in marry of his ocher wor4s; MaAin Puryear soid, "The work, hidden 6om the first block on wooden rollers. We his creation shows obvious difference is so great approach of most viewers, may well imagine hominids craftsmanship, but ifs meaning when you go into the third Puryear installed a huge pushing this piece along on is only suggested ro the viewer. dimension.... IPs not simply mask. If the mask symbolizes its rollers, for reasons that a two-dimensional thing haditional African culture, its remain mysterious. Puryear Puryear's sculptures create on expanded. IYs like an infinitely "hidden" location parallels the finished the bock using all of absorbing mix of possibilities multiple view, an infinitely disrespect that most French the cabinehnaker's hadifional in the mind. the time that it mulfiplled sense of possibilities, colonizers had for native skills of sawing, joining, and takes for viewers fo sense, spatial possibilities. ThaYs African ways. It also reflects finishing, but these only add to and then weigh, possible what iNeresis me."' back the face and perhaps the its enigmatic quality. In titling a meanings is the key moment

body of ih indigenous driver. work, Puryear fries fo "juxtapose for appreciating his work. He The abbreviation in the title of his work C. F.A.O. These attempts to find meaning see fig. 12.1 ~ stands for in this work ore all tentative, Canpagnie Frantaise because Puryear would prefer de I'Afrique Occidentale, to leave any symbolism in a privatesector trading an open ended state. His company in the former French work does not generally colony of Sierra Leone. He allow easy equation of began the work with an imagery and meaning. He old wheelbarrow, the sort said, "I wlue the referential that laborers the world over quality of art, the fad that might use. It is an obviously a work can allude fo things handmade implement, and or states of being without in Puryear respells it for that: "I'm any way representing them. really interested in vernacular The ideas that give rise to a cultures," he says, "where work can be quite di((use, people have ro live closer to so I would describe my usual the source of material and the working process as a kind of making of objects for use. Md distillation —trying to make in trades, in which people coherence out of things that make things in ways that are can seem contradictory."' not necessarily artistic."' In this mse, a wheelbarrow

holding a tall slack of wood, The C.F.A.O. no longer and an outsized mask painter functioned when Puryear lived white seem to have IiMe to do in Sierra Leone in the early with each other He explains, 1960s as a Peace Corps "Coherence is not the same as volunteer But many Africans resolution. The most interesting remembered it as a tool of art for me retains a Nickering oppression, as if bought quality, where opposed African products at low prices ideas can'ce held in tense for sale overseas, and kept ccexis~ence."a Africans Gam developing their own indushies. Perhaps In the case of Hwninid fo symbolize this colonial fig• ~z•~5~, the work and situation, Puryear burdened its fide seem to have just that the wheelbarrow with a sort of uneary relationship. bewildering array of wood A hominid is a prahuman pieces that weigh it down and primate, halfway beAveen bock the operator's view. chimp and person, while the

things in order to open up says, "I chink my work speaks various possible meanings to to anybody who has the the imagination."s In Hominid capacity to slow down."°

~[Wateh the Art21 video of Martin Puryear discussing his work on myartslab.com

i

196 CHAPTER 12 SCULPTURE ~ SCULPTURE CHAPTER 12 ~q7

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12.13 Disk (6:). China, Wesrern Han dynasty, c.100-220 ca. Jade (nephrite). Diameter 7". F1eer corky of an, smllh~omm~ ~nsnNnon, wcehngro~. o.c~. GiN of Cha~lm InnB Freer, Fl916.I55.

12.14 EIuabeth Cadet[. Motba and Cbi/d #2. 1971. Walnut. Height 38". n~aoe~~ M s~m~ie ~.~~. m cad.n n+~ Fam~y TN:du~~xd by VAGA, New York, NY

12.15 Martin Puryeac Hominid. 2007-2011. Pine. 73" X 77'/i" X 57". Currently located ac Martin Puryear's studio. c~,.My d d„ nom« ~ik.y. rn~: a~~na~ e~~.

Constructing and Assembling Fot most of recorded history, the major sculpting rech-

niques in the Western world were modeling, carving,

and casting. Eazly in the twentieth century, assem-

bling methods became popular. Such works are called

assembled sculpture or consauccions.

In the late 1920s, Spaniard Julio Gonzalez pio-

neered the use of the welding torch for cutting and

welding metal sculpture. The invention of o~cyacety-

lene welding in 1895 had provided the necessary

tool for welded metal sculpture, but it took three

decades for attists to u[ilize the new roofs potential.

Gonzalez had learned welding while working briefly

in an automobIle factory. After several decades—and

limited success—as a painter, Gonzalez began assist-

ing Picasso with the construction of metal sculp[ure.

Subsequently, Gonzalez committed himself to sculp-

ture and began to create his strongest, most original

work. In 1932 he wrote:

The Age of Iron began many cenruries ago by

producing very beautiful objects, unfortunately

mostly weapons. Today it makes possible

bridges and railroads as well It is ume that this

material cease to be a murderer and the simple

instrumene of an overly mechanical science.

The door is wide open, at Iasd for this material

co be Forged and hammered by the peaceful

hands of artists?

Gonzalez welded iron rods to construct his linear

abstraction Maternity (fig. 12.16). It is airy and play-

ful as it suggests a feminine anatomy atop a stone base.

Since the 1970s, Deborah Butterfield has created figures of horses from found materi- als such as sticks and scrap metal. She spends much of her rime on ranches in Montana and Hawaii where she trains and rides horses and makes sculpture. Painted, crumpled, rusted pieces of metal certainly seem an unlikely choice for expressing alight-footed animal, yec Butterfield's Conure (Sg. 12.17) has a surpris- ingly lifelike presence. The artist intends her sculptures co feel like horses rather than sim- plylook like them. The old car bodies she has used for many of her welded and wired metal horses add a note of irony: The scrapped autos take on a new life as a horse.

Some sculptors assemble found objects in ways that radically change the way we see familiar things. Yet we see enough of the objects' original chatacteristia that we can participate in their transformation. Such work requires metaphorical visual thinking by both artists and viewers. This type of constructed sculpture is called assemblage.

Picasso found a wealth o£ ready-made ingredients from salvaged fragments of daily life. In his assemblage Bull'c Head (fig. 12.18) he joined two common objects toge[her to create a third. Describing how it happened, he said: "One day I found in a pile of jum- ble an old bicycle saddle ncxc to some rusted handle bazs ... In a flash they were associ- ated in my mind ...The idea of this Bull's Head came without my thinking of it ... I had only to solder them together."e

Some assemblages gather meaning from the juxtaposition of teal objects. Marc Andre Robinson shops in thrift stores for pieces of old used furniture and assembles new objects from them. Throne for the Greatert Rapper of All Time (flg. 12.19) is one such work. We see at the lower center that the piece is based on found chairs, but he added a higher back and wings to the sides. If the purpose of a throne is to dignify whoever sits in it, this assemblage accomplishes that. This throne is a higher form oFchair, made mos[ly from chairs.

198 CHAPTER 12 SCULPTURE ~ SCULPTURE CHAPTER 12 }qq

12.15 Pablo Picasso. Bulls Head 1943. Bronze.

Seat and handles of a bicycle. Height 16%". Paris, munAa Pimsw. RMNGmnd Pdai~/Phoro by 9ernice Hamla ~ 2013 Esmk of Poblo 7imsw/Mush Rights Sociey ~ARS~, Naw Vork.

12.16 Julio Gonz5lez. Maternity 1934. Steel and stone. Height 49h'. ~ Tob, lavbn 2013 ~ 7017 Arlish Righh

sxiMy IA2sI, clew York,

12.19 Marc Mdre Robinson. Throne for tJx Gnamt Rappn ofAUTime. 2005. Wood. 76" X 69" X 48". Pnwte Cdlec~an.

12.17 Deborah Butterfield. Corture. 2007. Found steel, welded. 92'h" x 119" X 30". Canesy ln. iw,«.V ~, ca. ~ Debo~oh B~nerfidd/ Licenxd 6y VAGA, Naw York, NY.

12.20 Jesus Rafael Soto. &rritura Hurtado (Hurtado Wiitin~. 1975. Painq wire, nylon cord, and wood. 40" X 68" X I8". a,r.mrod .~~h ~~»~«~ ~ ~ ce,

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12.21 Cai Guo-Qiang. lnopportunc. Stage One. 2004. Nine cars and sequenced multichannel light tubes. Dimensions variable.

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Kinetic Sculpture Alexander Calder was among the first to acplore the

possibilities of kinetic sculpture, or sculpture that

moves. Sculptors' tradixional focus on mass is replaced in Calder's work by a focus on shape, space, and moor

meet Works such as his huge Untitled (see 6g. 3.33) at

the Na[ional Gallery of Art in Washingron, D.C., aze ofren called mobIles because the suspended patts move in response to small air currents.

If Calder's mobiles are massive and e~cuberant, far

more delicate aze the mobiles of Jestis Rafael Soto, such

as Hurutdo Writing (Hg. 12.20). Against a background of painted, thin vertical stripes, suspended curves of

wire slowly sway in whatever air currents aze present.

These wire pieces resemble the strokes of handwriting;

hence the title. Their mo[ion makes the background seem to vibrate.

When Lara Schnitger drapes and svetches fabric over wooden armatures, she creates both a sculpture

and a hollow interior space. The work of this Los

Angeles-based artist straddles the boundary between

sculpture and fashion design, just as the figures she creates hover nervously between human and some other living thing. In Grim Boy (fig. 12.22), for exam-

ple, she used various dark-colored fabrics together

with beads and fur to suggest a mannequin from hell.

This tense, lurking figure seems to e~cude the nervous energy of an adolescent wmbined with the quick eye of a birci. But it stands almost 6 feet tall, like a gan-

gling teenager, and the work's tide may remind us of

a brooding, trenchcoat-clad youth. There is an addi-

tional feminist message co most of Schni[ger's work

as well, because she is doing a sort of "dressmaking,"

Mixed Media Today's aztists frequently use a variety of media in a single work. Such works may be labeled with a long list of materials, or they may be

identified only as mixed media. The media may be two-dimensional, three-dimensional,

or a mixrure of the two. Ofren, the choice of

media expresses some cultural or symbolic meaning.

The contemporary Chinese-born artist

Cai Guo-Qiang created a huge and symbolic

mixed media piece in 2004 with Inopportune:

Stage One (fig. 12.21), now in [he Seattle Art Museum. The work consists of nine aucomo-

biles with light tubes perforating them. The

cars are arrayed as if we are seeing momentary

glimpses of one car Ripping through the air

as i[ explodes. Cai intended this work ro refer

bo[h to contemporary action movies (where

cars ofren eacplode and fly through the air)

and to car bombings by terrorists. The work

challenges us to consider if this is a thrilling

scene, as in a movie, or a horrendous one, as

in real life.

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