a new place to install

Jason de Caires Taylor's new work of underwater sculpture breaks the traditional boundaries of exhibition space. The location of where he shows work becomes an integral part of what the work means and looks like. His work physically evolves overtime as the water claims it as its own. The figures take on a new layer as they become a coral reef and the dying marine life gains a new environment. He places the pieces shallow enough for people to swim down and take a look at them.

Bernini

Bernini, a Baroque sculptor, was said to be able to give marble breath. The viewer can hear the grunt David let out right before he throws the stone. The viewer can see the agony that Persephone is in. So what makes Bernini's work transcend from being just marble?

He uses differences in detail and thinks of the entire composition and setting as one; not just props for his sculpture to sit in. He unifies. He brings together segments of marble, different types of marble with other material-like wood, plaster, and light. It all functions for one purpose of engaging the scene he has created.

Frosted Flakes....

I recently went to the Nelson-Atkins to do minor research for an Art History class. On my way to the African Art section, I passed through the beautiful new exhibition, 3 visions in glass; featuring 3 glass artists working in Venice. My favorite of the 3 was Yoichi Ohira. The colorless vessels speak to space that exists between exterior and interior form- or tension, as the label describes it. Lining several of these pieces together creates another level of dialogue.

"The Bamana people believe that raw clay possesses extraordinary, potentially harmful amounts of nyama, the vital , spiritual energy animating all things."

I found that statement on a label for a pottery piece in the African collection.
I connect with that.

When I work in my studio, the clay almost comes alive with the minimal plan I bring to it. Whatever is created with clay (not just from me but in my studio mates and other artists in all mediums) a personality, an atmosphere, an emotion, an idea that was not there before the artist touched it. I think the Bamana people are right, especially for Yoichi Ohira's work. He breathes life.