Tag: jonathan borofsky

The way we hammer art

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without a nail

Jonathan Borofsky’s Hammering Man was installed right in front of the Seattle Art Museum, in 1991. Hammering Man is a series of monumental sculptures situated in different cities and was created in honour of the working class women and men of the world.

Daedalus/Upliftment, 2016
Acrylic, gold leaf, spray paint on canvas
Fahamu Pecou

Double Elvis, 1963/1976
Silkscreen in, synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Andy Warhol

Caterpillar Suit 1, 2007
Anodized brass wire
Walter Oltmann

Untitled, 1982
Acrylic, spray paint and oil stick on canvas
Jean-Michel Basquiat

Warhol/Basquiat, NYC August 1986
wowe (Wolfgang Wesener)

Birdcage
Wood, metal, ivoyr
Late Qing dynasty (1644-1991) or Republican period (1850-1920)

Leda and the Swan, probably after 1915 and before 1923
Oil on canvas
John Covert

Morning, probably 1933
Oil on burlap
Morris Graves

Morning is a deeply affecting image of retreat, of the pain of facing the light, of the fear of facing the day.

Catfish clan figure, 19th-20th century
Wood, polycrhome
Melanesian, Papua New Guinea, Guam River Region, probably Breri or Igana people

Seattle Art Museum

June 15th, 2018

The art of having your head in the clouds

The Humble Fabulist5 Comments

Walking into the galleries of the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, I could hardly believe we were still in the same Museum.  Tara Donovan
Untitled, 2003
Styrofoam cups, hot glue

This undulating lattice of styrofoam drinking cups with glowing hollows and pliable rims was made to expand into the architecture of this particular space. To discover how they react to light and space in transcendent ways, Donovan experiments with huge volumes of manufactured materials. Clustered with an almost viral repetition, the cups above assume forms that both evoke natural systems and seem to defy the laws of nature. ”My work is mimicking the ways of nature, not necessarily mimicking nature” she notes. Here, it might suggest cellular growth or even the density of molecules in rolling clouds. 

Jonathan Borofsky
I Dreamed I Could Fly, 2000
Acrylic on fiberglass and incandescent lamp

Borofsky’s work is driven by the ideals of equality and harmony. Made especially for the wide open spaces of the Linde Family Wing, these flying figures ”are able to rise up and look down upon the whole planet… [they] see and feel that human beings are all connected together and that we are all one – no divisions and no walls.” 

Always a pleasure to discover a work by Borofsky; you can see two more works we came across in earlier trips, in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
May 2nd, 2017

Before leaving Baltimore

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We attempted to visit the B&O Railroad Museum but found it closed in preparation of the ”Day Out with Thomas” which, by the way, is coming back this year on April 27-29 and May 4-6.

Instead, we walked back to Penn Station, taking in some city views along the way. But one of the most striking features was Jonathan Borofsky’s much debated Male/Female, a 51-foot (15,5m) of a sculpture overlooking – or, as some would say, clashing with – the classic Beaux-Arts building of the train station. It all depends on the point of view, I guess. Personally, I rather like this dialogue between two giants and was glad to have discovered another artwork by Borofsky (the first one was ”Humanity in Motion” inside the Comcast Center lobby, in Philadelphia).

That’s a wrap of our two-day trip in Baltimore. But stay tuned for more travels, because next, we go to Boston!

April 27th, 2017

Philadelphia – The Skywalkers

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Inside the ”Winter Garden” aka main lobby of the Comcast Center. Two show-stopping public art installations.

The Comcast Experience, a 25.4ft tall, 83.3 feet, 2,000sf high-definition LED screen with incredibly clear, almost 3-D moving images, ranging from the clock wheels pictured here, to monumental natural landscapes to Betty Boop dancing.

And the permanent installation ”Humanity in Motion” by Jonathan Borofsky – 12 realistically painted life-size figures of stainless steel, walking on horizontal poles and two figures standing at ground level. Guess which ones?

Philadelphia,
February 22nd, 2017