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ART REMINISCENSE WHILE WAITING FOR CROATIA

STORM KING ADVENTURE

OCTOBER 2004


(click to enlarge these pics)

Yep, next week at this time I will be arriving in Zagreb, and reuniting with my beloved Sam.

[note: while I love our daughter and son-in-law dearly, and do not want in any way to suggest to them that we are not thrilled and excited to be seeing them, it is also true that their growth, both physical and emotional, will be less noticeable than will Sam's, and thus Sam's loss to us for the past 10 weeks is greater, and our impending reunion all that much more exciting]

In preparation for that reunion, and to pass the hours that will seem to pass sooooo slowwwly over this next week, I have taken to reminiscing about past adventures. And gathering some photos that have not yet made it onto the blog (yes, there are a few of those...).

Last October we spent a nice Autumn day at Storm King Art Center, an hour's ride north of the city. We were there the entire day, and saw only a tiny portion of the collection. Many of the sculptures are site-specific, and most were placed there by the artists. Curated by the landscape.

The photo above, with Sam romping underneath, is Kenneth Snelson's "Free Ride Home." According to the website, "it was erected in a half-hour by a crew of four men and has never required any adjustment. The self-supporting structure depends on a system in which the wires function like muscles and the tubes like bones, in a taut balance of tension and compression." I didn't know that then. I just remember being fascinated that Sam wanted to run around directly underneath the center of the arch. I would have expected him to either a) go for the sides, and start climbing, b) run around in front of it to get a good view, or c) run away from it, as something that might collapse on him (a concern of Mary's).

The Mark di Suvero piece, Pyramidian, was a different story. Here, the danger seemed too real, and Sam would only stand under it if I was holding him.

And there were some pieces that are much safer than they look; although it looks like it's going to fall over on us (or falling away, depending on your perspective), this piece is an optical illusion in two tons of steel.

And then again, it doesn't have to be a sculpture to threaten collapse. Yet we don't generally look at trees, and tree branches, in that way. Permanence of nature?

Which is one of the things I find so wonderful in Andy Goldsworthy's work. Visiting his Storm King Wall was a primary reason for our visit. It sounds like dumb art-speak, I know, but his use of natural materials to comment on the impermanence of nature is something I find both beautiful and thoughtful. Besides the natural beauty of the wall itself, (I particularly liked the loop into the water, and its re-emergence on the other side of the lake), Goldsworthy has other things to say. Perhaps the most intriguing is the close relationship between the wall and the trees it wraps around. At first look, it is comforting to see how protected this tree is. Almost cozy. But then you slowly realize that this tree is eventually, over the course of the next fifty years or so, going to destroy the wall. Kinda changes how I see the relationship between protector and protectee. As well as just what is permanent (nothing) and what is not (everything).

And that means, this is not permanent either.

It's not so much that it is hard to accept this; I don't want to accept it.

I mean, c'mon. How can this not be forever?

But back to the Wall: for Sam, his relationship with the wall was expansive. It offered him space to run, a place to steal little 'keep back' flags, and to swing, among other pleasures.

And have his portrait taken with his grandmother, and her best friend Karen.



The Richard Serra sculpture, Schunnemunk Fork (whatever the hell that means), was one of Sam's favorites. He has long been a Serra fan. He visited his sculptures at Dia Beacon, and the Gagosian gallery in August 2003, just before turning two (Remember this photo of Sam, pizza, and walking on Serra)?

At Storm King it was a place for another exotic diaper change (soon, I promise, I will publish for general edification the entire exotic diaper change collection). And a place for hide and seek and camera peek a boo. His laughter is permanent, at least as long as I am permanent.

Ha.



As the day wound down, Sam was drawn to this Louise Nevelson piece. Actually, if you look closer (and click on the photo to enlarge it), you will see that what he is actually admiring is the piece of stone on the grass that identifies the piece. And in fact, he is admiring to such an extent that he is ripping it out of the earth..

Not content with his artistic statement commenting on the appropriate way to deal with labels, he then wandered into the sculpture and started pushing/moving all its 'do not touch' elements.

Soon after this photo was taken we watched, with fascination, as a large piece (can't remember whose it was; didn't take a photo) was slowly moved across a lawn by a small tractor.

Which was Sam's favorite object of the day.




We'll be back.



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