I mentioned a few posts ago that during my visit to UMASS / Boston last week I got the chance to wander around the sculpture park, Arts on the Point, and specifically see the de Kooning, which I hadn’t seen before.
As you can see above, I took some shots of this piece, and I was extraordinarily impressed by it.
Most know that I am ridiculously influenced by de Kooning. I chalk this up to my background in drawing prior to picking up paint, and his devotion to the line, as well as to his ability to bridge the gap between the linear and the painterly… not to mention that I agree he was a master. Almost anyone who is applying paint to canvas to this day, I believe, is somehow contending with de Kooning.
That said, I don’t like all of his work. He took chances that became marvelous failures. And the series of sculptures that this UMASS piece came from were born really from experimentation… de Kooning being in Italy (Spain was it?) and not having his studio, but picking up clay and starting to experiment. Later, when someone volunteered to make these small figures into large casts, these bronze sculptures were born.
And while these, as so much of his work, were projects of experimentation… I truly enjoy them. What I love is de Kooning’s thumbprint. Now enlarged, it stands as some reminder of the scale of this art giant, or art god, at this point in his career. Or, the idea of a thumb print, a true signature upon the form, is here. Either way, I love the story of de Kooning trying to grapple with how to explain to people that he was a famous artist… so they wouldn’t get mad he didn’t tell them, while remaining humble.
“I’m kind of a big deal you know.” No kidding.
Anyhow, this UMASS piece, which I think is spectacular, had me thinking of the Laocoon, from one angle, where it seemed like a man’s broad back was wrestling something to the ground. The shot I am talking about is the third one down, where to me it looks like a man wrestling and twisting with something. Even now, I am not 100% sure why I thought of Laocoon… maybe all the ink drawings and sketches I have seen of it from other artists? The blending of sculpture and line? Or just a moment of massive backed Gods engaged in turmoil?
I also was reminded of Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” and the Bokononist idea that we rise from the mud and then return to the mud. This form seems to be wrestling with liquid, pushing and pulling it into something else, or some other place. Maybe like de Kooning bringing forth life from clay for the first time in his career, which is what these sculptures represent.
Regardless of the associations, it was a treat to behold. I think I like it better, in some ways, than the one at the MFA in Boston. It may just be my fav de Kooning in town.
As you can see above, I took some shots of this piece, and I was extraordinarily impressed by it.
Most know that I am ridiculously influenced by de Kooning. I chalk this up to my background in drawing prior to picking up paint, and his devotion to the line, as well as to his ability to bridge the gap between the linear and the painterly… not to mention that I agree he was a master. Almost anyone who is applying paint to canvas to this day, I believe, is somehow contending with de Kooning.
That said, I don’t like all of his work. He took chances that became marvelous failures. And the series of sculptures that this UMASS piece came from were born really from experimentation… de Kooning being in Italy (Spain was it?) and not having his studio, but picking up clay and starting to experiment. Later, when someone volunteered to make these small figures into large casts, these bronze sculptures were born.
And while these, as so much of his work, were projects of experimentation… I truly enjoy them. What I love is de Kooning’s thumbprint. Now enlarged, it stands as some reminder of the scale of this art giant, or art god, at this point in his career. Or, the idea of a thumb print, a true signature upon the form, is here. Either way, I love the story of de Kooning trying to grapple with how to explain to people that he was a famous artist… so they wouldn’t get mad he didn’t tell them, while remaining humble.
“I’m kind of a big deal you know.” No kidding.
Anyhow, this UMASS piece, which I think is spectacular, had me thinking of the Laocoon, from one angle, where it seemed like a man’s broad back was wrestling something to the ground. The shot I am talking about is the third one down, where to me it looks like a man wrestling and twisting with something. Even now, I am not 100% sure why I thought of Laocoon… maybe all the ink drawings and sketches I have seen of it from other artists? The blending of sculpture and line? Or just a moment of massive backed Gods engaged in turmoil?
I also was reminded of Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” and the Bokononist idea that we rise from the mud and then return to the mud. This form seems to be wrestling with liquid, pushing and pulling it into something else, or some other place. Maybe like de Kooning bringing forth life from clay for the first time in his career, which is what these sculptures represent.
Regardless of the associations, it was a treat to behold. I think I like it better, in some ways, than the one at the MFA in Boston. It may just be my fav de Kooning in town.
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