Saturday, March 21, 2015

National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is the outdoor part of the gallery and has some intriguing works on display. We wandered through on one of our trips to DC.

Six-Part Seating is a work conceived in 1985 by Scott Burton but not made until 1998, nine years after his death! The seats are made form polished granite. J wanted to sit down but a sign said that we shouldn't touch the sculptures (plus, there's that rope).

Six-Part Seating by Scott Burton

Aurora is an intriguing steel sculpture by Mark di Suvero. At first glance it's quite industrial looking, but the angles and curves make it more thought provoking. As a comic book fan, I see some Avenger-style As in it, though surely that can't be intentional. Looking at it more, it seems like all the letters from its name are there.

Aurora by Mark di Suvero

Puellae (Girls) by Magdalena Abakanowicz also brings out the comic-book sensibility in me, suggesting an undead horde on the move. The starkness of the bodies and the lack of heads misled me!

Puellae (Girls) by Magdalena Abakanowicz

House I is a fun trompe l'oeil in aluminum that looks like a house facing different ways depending on the location of the viewer. The intersection of the roof and two walls in the middle is an odd angle that looks normal from the right angle. It was modeled by Roy Lichtenstein but only made in 1998, a year after his death.

House I looks normal here

Quite different from over here

Spider is a bronze sculpture by Louise Bourgeois that captures the creepiness of the arachnid.

Spider by Louise Bourgeois

Graft is a stainless steel tree made in 2009 by Roxy Paine. I'd enjoy this even more in the winter.

Graft by Roxy Paine

There is another work I don't have the title for but it was interesting enough for me to take a picture. I am not sure what to make of it. It's sort of industrial, sort of spiderish. It's the kind of abstract work that exercises my mind but does not provide a satisfying conclusion.

Another sculpture

Nearby the garden (or at least they are within viewing distance) are some other famous buildings.

National Archives

Smithsonian Castle

Capitol Building

No comments:

Post a Comment