Untitled Organic Wood Mosaic
Physical Description- This wall mounted piece measured approximately 3.5 feet in diameter and 3 inches in depth. Its primarily composed of cross sectionally sliced pieces of indigenous gums and eucalyptus with a focus on preserving the naturally color with only a lacquer coat.
Personal Reaction - The piece is striking in size, scope, and level of detail at first impression. I obviously had an appreciation for it because I quickly snapped a picture of it to savor. I'd be remiss to think I wouldn't be proud to have this piece in my home however I'm shocked at my art snobbery when I allow myself to analyze it. First off, the circularity of the overall design puts me off because of the organic nature of the conglomerating pieces. I feel restricted in the bounds of the circle instead of freed, perhaps an oval or a shape based off a growing tree trunk that is nearly mathematically circle but not. The sets of stripes give an allusion of geological time, earth, water, wind, fire, but there composition are confusing in that two sets of stripes are repeated and without modification or reason to their placement. I feel like the artist just thought the would was pretty, it would be pretty in some nice waves in a big circle, and he could sell it for a quick book in the Hunter Valley. I'm probably getting to into but if someone is going to create a nearly 4 foot circle for the world to look at, its going to get thought about. Also on a level of detail and planning, the lightly colored woods on the bottom become 50 cent piece sized and I feel like the artist just decided to give up on the meticulous nature of this sort of piece. I know the feeling, I've created a mosaic in my bathroom and there were many a time where I just wanted to use full size tile instead of 1/5 sized pieces. On those days, you quit, have a glass of wine, and go back another day or month when you are ready to do the piecemeal work of the artist.
The circle, back to this again, is very sacred for Aboriginal artwork. Many tribes used the dot in their forms of art. The circle here is used and I just can't feel it amongst the overall design of the piece. I like the circle pieces of art that an opthomologist uses to figure out if you are color blind. The pictures are composed of all circles of usually two slightly different color variations to figure out if you can tell what symbol or character the circles are creating. Save your money in traveling to Australia to see this piece of art and just visit your local opthomologist if you want to look at some interesting dot matrix like artwork.
Untitled Female Bust
Physical Description -- 3 feet tall, 1.5 foot deep, 2 foot wide, composed of Jarrah wood
Personal Reaction -- If I were really cultured I could probably figure out if this a reproduction of some sort of cubist piece of art or a reproduction of a famous female bust. Hold on, lets consult the Googlez, harder than I have attention for right now.
Well, I really liked this piece. I like it enough that I ignored a couple glue splotches that I could see while seeing it up close in person. You may be thinking, yeah, you like it because its a set of boobs. Yes, I'd be dickless not to appreciate a good set of mammaries. That aside this is a great piece because of the layers. There is the overall form, the posture, longitudinal movement, latitudinal movement, diagonal movement, movement in depth, change in line boldness, slight variation in grain composition, and the play of lighting off the variations of the previously mentioned modes. I would pay a hardy sum to get this piece in a plain white room with some spot lighting to play with the shadows as well. I really enjoy photographing sculpture with its shadow and I think I could get some really great shots with this piece.
I'm not going to say anymore. I like it.
