Forest Goddess at the Whitney
I’ve never used an LUT, which stands for “Look Up Table”, and thought I’d give this one a try. The work is Fall by Allison Saar (2011). I cannot wait to take a picture of it when it snows.…
thirteen things tagged “sculpture”
A Black and White Photograph of the Bust of Queen Nefertiti
I can stare at photographs of the Nefertiti Bust all day. It’s just so alive. It was carved out of limestone and covered in stucco/plaster. The eyes were made out of quartz and affixed with beeswax. Just so beautiful. Wikipedia has a 3D model you can look at.…
Netsuke
Summary of Wikipedia article: Japanese kimono didn’t have pockets. They needed something to store their stuff in. So they made containers that they hung from their kimonos’ sashes1. The part that secured the container to the sash at the top was called a netsuke (“root attached”.) Here’s a really c…
On Life’s Work
The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do. Henry Moore Via this collection of lovely talks b…
An Annoyed, Shivering, Nude Woman with Large Lapis Lazuli Glasses
Carved by someone in Ancient Egypt between 3700–3500 BCE. […] most of them represent nude females with their feminine attributes emphasised by carving and careful drilling. With their slim figures, narrow waists and full hips they present an ideal of the female body that will change little ove…
Portrait of Hotto Enmyo Kokushi
This beautiful piece was sculpted in Japan around the 13th century and is about three feet tall. The subject is a Zen Buddhist monk Shinchi Kakushin, who lived till the ripe old age of 95. After his death, he was given the title “perfectly awakened national teacher of the Dharma lamp” which is wh…
How to Make a Dorodango
Hikaru Dorodango means “Shining Mudcake”. Start with a lump of mud and end with a highly polished sphere. Absolutely amazing. Here’s a short NatGeo video about Bruce Gardner, an artist who makes a lot of these. He says it took him 30 tries to make his first perfect one. https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Chamunda from Odisha
This is one of the most seriously badass representations of Shakti I’ve seen in a while. The goddess is shown seated on obsessed boy (Corpse or Preta). The corpse is placed on a pedestal. The deity has a skeletal body, veins can be seen clearly. Its face is ferocious and wrathful; eyes are pop…
White Statues
Vox on the history of plain-white Roman statues and how historians attempt plaster reconstructions with the original colors. Like this one:…
Richard Serra on Art
Q: Why make art? What do you find by doing it? What does it get you? Serra: I always wanted an alternative existence. And by that I mean I wanted to do something where I could study my own sentiments and experiences. And I found that I can do that in relation to making things and making art in pa…
Juliana Lepine
Makes amazing sculptures. See the ones of Freddie Mercury and Doc Brown posted on social media quite often. Has an active YouTube channel.…