Fallen Star Provides New Perspective

Fallen Star- Suh

Everyone has felt out of place and a little disjointed with one's present location. That feeling of alienation and changing perspective is captured in Do Ho Suh’s odd house called “Fallen Star.” It is the eighteenth commissioned sculpture for UCSD's Stuart Collection, in La Jolla. This off-kilter house is an expression of Suh’s own feeling of cultural displacement.  He left Korea in 1991, leading him to explore the idea of ‘home’ and memory.

Upon leaving the doors on the seventh floor of Jacobs Hall, one is immediately transported to a new environment. A path leads through a small, perfectly manicured, garden and up to a blue house that seems to be falling off the corner of the green balcony. This ‘home’ not only sits off the side of Jacobs Hall, the interior itself is slanted. The floor, ceiling, and furniture all sit at odd angles. Looking around the space, it is hard to figure out what is plumb and what is not. There is no real guideline to base these judgments on. The only object in the room that hangs properly is the chandelier, and even so it looks crooked as well. One’s balance is completely thrown off and a sense of vertigo is always hovering in the back of the viewers mind.  The space is a unique experience that has a lingering affect.

“Fallen Star” is a spectacular place to visit. With so many visitors to La Jolla, everyone can find a connection to Suh’s meaning. After experiencing “Fallen Star,” stop by Thumbprint Gallery, on Kline Street in La Jolla, to see contemporary and lowbrow art by local artists. The gallery is open 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Source:

http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artists/suh.shtml

'Standing' in the Stuart Collection: Kiki Smith's Statue at UCSD

Kiki Smith’s fascination with the body and skin as both protective yet fragile began in the 1970’s. Her emphasis on the human body and its functions defied traditional distinctions between public and private subject matter. When she began her Stuart Collection project, her ideas evolved in relation to the site between the Medical Teaching Facility and the Basic Sciences Building on the UCSD campus in La Jolla.

Smith decided to put a body on top of a classic pedestal to show the importance of the human body but later evolved into putting a body on a cast of a tree trunk. A dead eucalyptus tree was located on campus and removed to be cast in concrete. The many insect paths under the bark of the tree immediately interested Smith and were included on the final product.

The figure for "The Standing" was cast from a live model and calls forth thoughts of human strength and fatality, and both the power and limits of medicine. The figure produces a feeling of serenity. The calming sound of the water and hummingbirds that drink out of the hands creates a quiet intimacy. The arms reach downward towards the earth in a Madonna-like pose. Water flows from her hands into the rocks that line the bottom of the tree trunk. The starfish-like pins on her chest, which make up the astrological sign for Virgo plays on the word virgin, to emphasize the Madonna-like pose. The tree trunk itself, filled with the paths of insects, which could have caused its demise, creates an image of life and death.

After seeing "The Standing," stop by Thumbprint Gallery, on Kline Street in La Jolla, to learn more about contemporary and urban art!

Source: http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artists/smith-k.shtml

A Moral Dilemma: La Jolla’s Own Vices and Virtues

The Neon Virtues Light Up the Night

The Stuart Collection has an amazing combination of sculptural works.  One of the more striking, and impossible to ignore, is the bright, blinking neon piece by Bruce Nauman, "Vices and Virtues" (1988), located on the Charles Lee Powell Structural Systems Laboratory on the UCSD campus in La Jolla. 

This slightly minimalist piece is an intriguing combination of opposites. Seven virtues and seven vices are superimposed together in a huge seven-foot frieze around the top of the laboratory. Each word is a blend of two different colors created, in total, with nearly a mile of neon tubing. Faith/Lust, Hope/Envy, Charity/Sloth, Prudence/Pride, Justice/Avarice, Temperance/Gluttony, and Fortitude/Anger are paired in this thought provoking work.  Each word in a pairing flashes at a different rate, allowing for the words to be seen singularly and occasionally overlapping. The grouping of each vice and virtue invites the viewer to contemplate the relationships between the words and the meaning. The intrigue continues with the thought that this complex moral imagery is generated from mechanical algorithms. The bright neon lights are so vivid against the plain industrial building on which they are mounted. Six stories up, the words are easy to read, day or night, and from a considerable distance.

The change of vice and virtue is a constant reminder to all viewers of the daily moral struggles every person undergoes. After viewing "Vices and Virtues," visit ThumbprintGallery on Kline Street, La Jolla, to see more urban artwork by local artists.  Open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays 12-4pm.

Source: http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artists/nauman.shtml 

Art and Nature Combine in La Jolla's Stuart Collection

The Poetic Tree

Does art mimic nature, or nature mimic art? It is a question often asked rhetorically, and often jokingly, to artists and critics worldwide. Terry Allen, painter, sculptor, musician, and writer played in and around this question with his first out door sculptural piece, "Trees" (1986), commissioned for The Stuart Collection at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla.

Allen’s work is a commentary on the loss of trees for the expansion of the university. To make his statement, he encased three eucalyptus trees in lead, essentially preserving them. Two of the threes mingle with other live eucalyptus in a grove between the Geisel Library and Faculty Club. They could go unnoticed if not for the sounds. Allen combines other forms of artistic expression into these two trees: one emits music, the other poetry. The music tree has songs sung by William T. Wiley, Joe Ely, David Byrne, a Thai band, and the Maines Brothers. The poetry tree recites works by Bale Allen, Phillip Levine, Navajo chants, translated Aztec poetry, and other sounds. Some students call the area “The Enchanted Forest.” The third tree stands in the middle of the paved quad in front of the geometrical Geisel Library. The interpretations for this tree are endless. It could be seen as the tree of knowledge. This tree makes no sounds, but stands as though in silent mourning for the trees that have been cut down to make the books that are within the library.

After following the sounds of music and poetry to find the lead encased eucalyptus of Allen’s "Trees," stop by Thumbprint Gallery, on Kline Street in La Jolla, to see more urban art and lowbrow local art.

Source: http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artists/allen.shtml 

A Growing Sculptural Collection at UCSD in La Jolla

Collections of art are just that: collections. Most are of a specific genre, or artist, but sometimes they are of a certain medium. In the case of the Stuart Collection in La Jolla, on the UCSD campus, the public art collection contains only  out-door sculpture. Since it’s foundation in 1983, the collection has commissioned eighteen different works.

The Stuart Collection is unique. An agreement was signed in 1982, and renewed in 2003, that makes the entirety of the 1,200-acre university campus fair game for commission sites. The collection seeks to incorporate sculpture in all forms and integrate them into the setting at UCSD. This means that the collection is not housed in a traditional sculpture garden; rather it is spread across the campus, each piece created for a specific site, and the sculptures interact with architecture and landscape. Funding for these pieces comes from many different foundations including the National Endowment for the Arts, The Stuart Foundation, and Friends of the Stuart Collection, and individual donations.  Commissions and projects are submitted to the advisory board of art professionals. The board, with mindfulness of campus life and the university’s goals, helps tailor the project to a particular site on the UCSD campus. 

The collection is a work in constant progress, enriching the UCSD campus with culture and beauty with every addition. The prestige of the Stuart Collection has spread, bringing renown on the artists who created permanent works for it. Viewing all the sculptures in the Stuart Collection requires an observant eye and a stroll throughout the La Jolla campus. To see more contemporary and urban art, stop by Thumbprint Gallery on Kline Street. Open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays 12-4pm

Source: http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/about/