Monday, October 1, 2012

Brice Brown Q04, 2009


Artist: Brice Brown
Piece: Q04, 2009
Brown has created a sculpture of what appears to be a very battered crown. The crown is made out of aluminum and is approximately 29 inches in height and has a width of about 52 inches. The crown has been given the appearance of an object that was something once sacred but now in ruins. This could mean that a nation was defeated and left in the dust. The very fact that this sculpture has been placed on the ground for viewing creates a bigger idea that it is rubble. Aluminum is not a very strong metal as it is, it is very easily formed and changed. This sculpture being made out of aluminum creates a feeling of weakness. Half of the crown is missing from the sculpture and a very large hole is shown in a side of it. At the top there are 12 prongs at the top that are still attached. Some of them have been broken down with time. What is interesting is that with time this "aged" crown has managed to keep its perfect circles that are found at the top of the sculpture and again at the bottom.
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Marsha Pels




Artist: Marsha Pels
Art work: To Breathe, To Walk
In the piece by Marsha Pels called To Breathe, To Walk, we see a two section sculpture made from painted cast bronze and iron, flame-worked Pyrex glass, and several found object. The size of this piece is about 68 inches high, 62 inches wide, and 18 inches thick. At a distance this art piece looks to be the outline of an invisible human with a single objects appearing around the head, which have been formed to represent the humans head, neck, and shoulders. This object around the head has lots of negative space creating, up close, a nonrepresentational form. It is not until the viewer stands back and views the piece from a distance that the nonrepresentational wires that have been connected together actually create a form that many people can recognize as a set of lungs. Towards the bottom of the sculpture we see a pair of knee high boots. The boots are bronze in color and give off the feeling of being well warn. While the straps on the outside of the boots appear to be holding the boots in place. Preventing them from being able to move at all. As if this invisible person is being held in one spot. The colors found  within this piece are very warm and are reflected through out this two piece sculpture!
        This piece has many points of view. When it is viewed up close it is nonrepresentational and slightly disorganized. When viewed from afar we see the lungs, the outlined figure, and the travel boots as one. The minds eye creates the outline of the human. It fills in the gap that the artist has created between the boots and the lungs with a human form. The elements surrounding this figure are what creates the figure. The flow of the wire to create veins and arteries are what makes this piece flow and breathe! While the boots hold the figure captive.