Has there ever been a well-known artist in history that's in all your books and purportedly very "influential," but you just don't get what the big deal about him is? For me, that was Calder.
Being an artist from a small city where one of Calder's most important works of public art resides–La Grande Vitesse in Grand Rapids (GR), Michigan–this has always been an especially sore point for me. I never understood why an icon of the sculpture was on all the street signs and why in real "media moments" people sometimes refered to GR as "Calder City." A few years ago, when an editorial declared La Grande Vitesse and the surrounding architecture "some of the most beautiful in the country," I thought my mother-in-law had it right when she said, "For whom?–The blind?!" I thought "Calder Red" was garish, and WHAT was that thing they called a sculpture anyway?
Two weeks ago, my opinion completely changed.
I visited an exhibition of Calder's 2D and 3D work (at the Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids). The exhibition included a large-scale model for La Grande Vitesse. (The model stands about fifteen feet high and twelve feet long.) My understanding of Calder began to grow upon learning that La Grande Vitesse, translated, means The Grand Rapids. "Ah!" I thought. "Perhaps there is something to this blob. Well, we'll see."
Alone at the exhibition, I was able to take time walking around the model and investigating it through drawing. Each perspective revealed a new character of the sculpture. The process of drawing led to great discoveries of the intersections of light, shadow and form. Before long, I craved experiencing the final scuplture in Downtown GR.
The final scupture stands fifty-four feet long, forty-three feet high, thirty feet wide, and weighs more than 42 tons. Needless to say, it is massive. What a feat, then, that this mass of red steel seems to blow in the breeze, reflect the light, and alternately ebb and flow, like–dare I say–rapids.
What is good art? (Do we feel like arguing???) I am going to assert that there is no one definition of good art, but that one of several traits of good art is an experience. Good art elicits a response in us. My response to La Grand Vitesse was one of elation; I was not only experiencing the beauty of the natural world, but an interpretation by a human that was totally integrated and taught me a new way of interacting with the world. The representation of nature was simultaneously all-powerful and conquered–as if a human had understood nature's strength and was interpreting it in a new language.
This sort of integration of materials and experience are main ingredients in the melting pot of art. Visiting La Grand Vitesse with fresh eyes taught me more about good art and the experience of good art than living with it for 20 years before.
For a "walk-around" view of La Grand Vitesse, visit:
http://www.sculpturesitesgr.org/sculpture_detail.php?artwork_id=1&location=2
For further reading: http://calder.org
No comments:
Post a Comment