Sculpture, Louis Bourgeois, Richard Serra and "Just Looking"

Sculpture at the University of Oregon in front of Straub Hall

This week we talked about sculpture, and professor Amanda Wojick spoke to us about women in sculpture throughout the last century. She discussed with us about the two tracks that sculpture takes and that it's on a spectrum. The spectrum is between. Abstraction and representation. Abstract is based off of somethin real and a representation is an exact replica. The difference betwee. Sculpture and other mediums is that there are infinite amounts of ways to approach the art and many materials available to use. There is also a giant spectrum that these pieces of art can fall on and I think this is truly unique to this medium. How the sculpture is made and what it is made out of changes the meaning of the work and how the work of art is perceived. This medium can also help abstract the work the work of art. Even an exact replica of something is abstracted because of the materials that are used. When're something is abstract or representative is also based on the view point of the audience. There is going to be a difference between the viewpoints of someone who passively looks at the work and someone who actually takes the time to look at it. The differences between how people look at piece of artwork changes where each person sees where on the spectrum of abstraction and representation the artwork belongs.

An artist that Amanda Wojick spoke to us about is Louis Bourgeois. She is a sculptor that highly bases her artwork on her childhood. At first she would carve her works in wood but "she began to execute her work in rubber, bronze, and stone and the pieces themselves became larger, more referential to what has become the dominant theme of her work- her childhood" (art21.com). Many of her works "are charged with sexuality and innocence and the interplay between the two" (art21.com). Although her artwork reflects her childhood I feel that it is very dark. For instance her giant spiders. I do find it interesting the size of her artwork. Although I cannot truly experience the artwork, because I cannot experience the size and he space, I try to understand it and grasp it. This goes back to how people see it. It's different to experience just a photo and to experience the actual piece. You can't really form your opinion on the abstraction or representation of a piece unless you are physically there, or else you don't truly see it. This also goes for Richard Serra's artwork. He is also a profound sculptor. "Serra's work has become famous for physicality, one that is compounded by the breathtaking size and the weight that the pieces have acquired" (art21.com). A lot of his works are placed in public areas which changes the way that his pieces are received. There would be a difference between his artwork being in a gallery and in an open populated area. It's just like how different materials are going to send a different message because it us truly a different experience. When we his pieces of art in the places that he puts them we can compare it to the buildings around it a truly grasp it's size, but it still depends on how people look at it.

In "Just Looking" by James Elkins we explore what people do when they are looking. Through out the reading be takes a closer and closer look at what looking is. His main point is that when an observer looks at an object, they aren't just looking, you can't just solely see. Looking is more like hunting because you are looking for something that catches your eye but you are subconsciously sifting through everything you see. Even though you may be passively looking at something, your brain is still processing it, you still think about it. When you are looking at something there is always more than just looking involved and the object always looks back. This doesn't necessarily mean the it's actually looking at you with eyes, but same with physical looking, there is always something more deep than what is on the surface. When and object looks back it is sending it's message. To everyone this message is different because to everyone abstraction and representation of a piece is completely different because people have different perspectives. Sculpture is a Uniates medium because a lot of different factors determine how a piece or work it perceived. It's a combination of the space the work is in, the size of the piece, the materials used and how people view the work. Sculpture is a fascinating medium because of it's open potential to be analyzed and perceived.