Blog Post #5

       If I had to be completely honest, my absolute favorite form of art is sculpture.  There is something so physical and intimate with the creation of sculpture that truly sets it apart from other mediums of art.  Whether it is casting sculpture through molten iron, molding it through clay or even painstakingly chiseling out a statue from marble, the labor that goes into forming sculpture truly distinguishes it apart from painting and the like.   During my trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I wrote about seeing the statue of Heracles and each subsequent time I re-visit that statue, I am caught in complete awe.  The artist fully encapsulated what it may have felt like to be standing before a mythical figure such as the likes of the Mighty Heracles. However, not all statues and sculptures need to be monolithic in size to convey meaning and value.  As we learned in class, many of the artifacts that were excavated from Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations contained statuettes of deities that are told to bring good fortune or protection from certain ailments or diseases.  This really fascinated me because it establishes the significance that certain sculptures or statues may have upon not only the artist but the viewer as well.

        The piece that I have chosen to analyze really intrigued me and challenged my ability to view art.  At first glance, all one sees is a hodge-podge of metal shapes that are jammed into a small enclosure that is then surrounded by these metal plates with screws connecting them to one another.  During that first glance, I had absolutely no idea what this piece was or what it was trying to convey.  It was when I began to move around the piece, looking at it through multiple angles and changing my perspective throughout that I noticed the true intentions of the artist.  This was indeed a representational piece about people cramming their way either in or out of a train.  I could not hold my excitement in any further so I explained to my classmates nearby who were also analyzing this piece that the metal fixtures surrounding the cast represent a train.  After that realization, understanding the depth of this sculpture became a lot easier.  Soon thereafter I tapped my knuckles into the sculpture to confirm that it was created through a casting process due to the interior being hallow, which is also indicative of an additive process.  There is no variation of color throughout the piece, which primarily sticks to a metal motif throughout the sculpture.  Ultimately this piece would stay relatively under the radar, if people passing by did not take but a few minutes to admire what stood before them.  Which perhaps harkens back to the intention of the artist.  The sculpture conceivably expresses the hustle and bustle that is commonly associated with life in New York City, which perhaps may lead a person to be ignorant of the beauty that surrounds them, which perhaps is alluded to through the use of a significant amount of negative space. Or maybe the artist means to express something else entirely.  Art is ambiguous like that.