The major venue for three dimensional art is public space. While museum representation may represent prestige, not many sculptors manage to have their works on permanent display in major museums. Many more works are installed as as enhancements to public and private building projects.
Works that are about the art of sculpture itself may excite sculptors and their allies, critics, gallery owners and museum curators. They rarely excite the public viewer. Minimalist and conceptual art is often about extending the definition of sculpture. To the extent that these works enhance the vocabulary of the artist and are understood by the viewer, they are successful. But most of them have adopted a prose vocabulary. They have lost the poetry that moves us, the viewing public.
Works that carry a narrative content, while more easily understood by the public, often lose their ability to move the viewer as they too narrowly serve the needs of the narrative. It is even more likely that by serving one narrative, they risk the offense of political uncorrectness. The Fallon statue in the City of San Jose honored one of the founders of the city but offended the descendents of the Native American and Mexican populaitons that he oppressed.
This argues in favor of a public art whose objective is to create an emotional connection between the viewer, the object and the space in which the object is placed.
Posted by at September 18, 2003 08:32 AM