A Table Laid with Thought

Green Table-Holzer

Jenny Holzer is an internationally renowned artist whose opinions and truths are the foundation, and form, of her controversial work. Text is her primary means of artistic expression. Her truisms have been on posters, scrolling LED screens, projected onto buildings, and installed in various museums around the world. UCSD commissioned Holzer to construct a sculpture for the La Jolla campus as part of the Stuart Collection. The product of this commission is entitled “Green Table” and resides in the Muir College Quad.

This oversized granite table is borderline monumental. Besides it’s size, the entire surface is carved with text. True to Holzer’s repertoire, some of it is humorous observations and commentary, while others are political criticisms. This table, which provides space for students and faculty to sit, eat, study, and congregate also has several conversation starters spread out before them.

Some of the text reads:

“Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid”

“Change is valuable when the oppressed become tyrants”

“Abuse of power comes as no surprise”

Longer stretches of text cover the top of the dark grey table. These messages are in a sense Holzer’s way of providing “food for thought,” presented at a table in a place of learning, UCSD. It is an interesting way of expressing ideas, inspiring discussion, and encouraging thought outside the classroom or laboratory. 

To experience more local, thought provoking, contemporary and lowbrow art, visit Thumbprint Gallery, on Kline Street in La Jolla. The gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

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

Color Runs Through UCSD Campus

Two Running Violet V Forms-Irwin

As with all mediums, there is a limit to how much one can do with it. Some types of paint will remain transparent no matter what, while others are difficult to thin out or create impasto. Artist Robert Irwin found these limitations frustrating and gave up on painting all together. He began to experiment with architectural sculpture and incorporating the qualities and effects of paint into a three dimensional environment. His sculpture for the Stuart Collection at UCSD in La Jolla, “Two Running Violet V Forms” expresses Irwin’s goals.

With the man-made eucalyptus forest between the Mandeville Center and the Faculty Club as his site, Irwin constructed two running chain link fences in the shape of V’s. Each fence is approximately 25 feet high and the links are covered in blue-violet colored plastic. The fences do not reach the ground, allowing ample space for pedestrians to walk beneath. Purple flowering ice plant has been planted under the fences, accenting the color.

The V Forms illustrate Irwin’s ideas about light and dimension. The fences weave between the trees in straight lines providing a different perspective to each individual as they move around the eucalyptus grove. As the day progresses, light catches and reflects off the chain link in different ways, changing the color and visual qualities of the V Forms.

The “Two Running Violet V Forms” are an interesting translation of painting into a thee dimensional space, well worthy of experiencing. Once you have seen the color and light qualities of the Forms, visit Thumbprint Gallery, located on Kline Street, to see more local contemporary art in La Jolla. The gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Source:

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

UCSD's Stone Poetry

UNDA-Finlay

Many different forms of art cross over and flow from one form to another. Poetry can be translated into paintings; myths are carved into sculptures, and vice versa. Some of the most fascinating pieces of art incorporate two or more artistic forms into one cohesive whole. Ian Hamilton Finlay was a Scottish artist who is well known for his sculpture and poetic writing. In his commissioned sculpture for the Stuart Collection at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, Finlay carved poetry into stone, entitled: “UNDA.” Finlay also used the dichotomy of wild nature and controlled culture.

Just north of the playing field between the Humanities building and the Thurgood Marshall College student apartments sit five large, roughly cut, English limestone blocks. On each block the Latin letters V, N, D, A are carved in various orders. A ‘S’ form separates some of the letters indicating that one should transpose the letters it separates. Using this formula, each block reads UNDA. It is a one-word poem repeated over the stones.

This statue was Finlay’s first outdoor sculpture in the United States. It seems to relate the message that all art is connected to nature as closely as this one piece. Simplicity and beauty become one with the environment, making Finlay’s sculpture seem timeless. The use of Latin letters contributes to the classical nature of the sculpture as well. After deciphering and contemplating Finlay’s UNDA poem, visit Thumbprint Gallery, on Kline Street in La Jolla, to see more art by local artists. The gallery is open from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Source:

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

Red Shoe by Elizabeth Murray

The Stuart Collection took a bold move by asking New York based artist Elizabeth Murray to construct her first freestanding sculpture. Murray, who was mainly known for painting at the time, was slowing moving away from traditional painting on canvas toward something that became increasingly three dimensional. She soon jumped at the chance of constructing her first sculpture in a grove of eucalyptus trees near the theater and drama department on UCSD, campus in La Jolla.

Murray’s work is characterized by the use of everyday objects such as shoes, cups, and saucers but adding a twist to show movement. Murray would construct what would come to be known as the Red Shoe in 1996, in her New York studio. The work was to challenge the boundaries of traditional painting. Robert Storr, Dean of the Yale University School of Art, stated, "Reason presides over universities; it remains for artists to give substance to those areas of consciousness that reason has not and perhaps cannot articulate." The Red Shoe brought life to the formerly forgotten and dull corner of campus by adding a touch of color and motion. The artwork invokes a fairly-tale like narrative and brings about a childlike feeling of whimsy. The playfulness and mischief is exactly what Elizabeth Murray aimed to bring to mind.

Murray lived in New York until her untimely death in 2007. She was a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1999, and in 2005 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, created a major exhibition of her work. The Red Shoe can still be found on the UCSD campus in La Jolla off of Torrey Pines Road.
 
After visiting the statue, drop by Thumbprint Gallery, on Kline Street, to see more contemporary art. The gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12-4pm.

Source: http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artists/murray.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/