Tag Archives: Sculpture

It Exists Absolutely More Than Anything Else

Posted on by Bill Chance

But witches don’t exist, and they don’t live in swamps, I say.

“Yeah, they do. They do exist. They just don’t exist the way you think they exist. They certainly exist. You may say well dragons don’t exist. It’s, like, yes they do — the category predator and the category dragon are the same category. It absolutely exists. It’s a superordinate category. It exists absolutely more than anything else. In fact, it really exists. What exists is not obvious. You say, ‘Well, there’s no such thing as witches.’ Yeah, I know what you mean, but that isn’t what you think when you go see a movie about them. You can’t help but fall into these categories. There’s no escape from them.”
—-Jordan Peterson

St. George and the Dragon
John Mills, Bronze, orig. Plaster
Windsor Court Hotel, New Orleans

Sleep Without Dreams

Posted on by Bill Chance

“What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”
― Werner Herzog

St. Kampos by Ashley Pridmore
2018 Bronze
Poydras Street, New Orleans

In the City of New Orleans there is a fantastic arrangement of sculpture along Poydras Street. Walking down and back from my son’s apartment to the Running of the Bulls I took photos of a few of them that I’ll share with you.

Seahorse sculpture installed on Poydras Street

New giant golden seahorse sculpture arrives on Poydras Street

NEW ORLEANS CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL SCULPTURE DAY 2018 WITH GIANT SEAHORSE INSTALLATION

Like a Graceful Dream

Posted on by Bill Chance

“On a certain day in the blue-moon month of September
Beneath a young plum tree, quietly
I held her there, my quiet, pale beloved
In my arms just like a graceful dream.
And over us in the beautiful summer sky
There was a cloud on which my gaze rested
It was very white and so immensely high
And when I looked up, it had disappeared.”
― Bertolt Brecht, Poems 1913-1956

William Cannings
Stacked V
2016 Texas
Materials: Steel, Paint and Polyester Flakes
Poydras Street, New Orleans

Artist Statement:
“Tall, bright and colorul, Stacked V aims to be whimsical and eye catching. The shapes are made with sheet steel – cut welded and inflated with air pressure to appear soft and ephemeral. The surfaces are developed using automotive paints to be glossy, smooth and seductive. The individual squares are free to spin on their aces – a changing composition of color and reflection.” – William Cannings

In the City of New Orleans there is a fantastic arrangement of sculpture along Poydras Street. Walking down and back from my son’s apartment to the Running of the Bulls I took photos of a few of them that I’ll share with you.

This is another sculptor from New Orleans that I recognized – I had seen his work (though I haven’t photographed or put it in my blog yet). He has a sculpture in the Hall Gallery in the Dallas Arts District named “Cubed.” Now I have to take the train down there, ride my bike, take some photos. I do have entries from right around there, after all.

Art and/or Advertisement

Posted on by Bill Chance

“The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists.. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.”

― Banksy

El Pajaro y la Nina by Ray Smith, 2016 Mexico/New York, Material Reclaimed Tires/Poured Concrete
Poydras Street, New Orleans

In the City of New Orleans there is a fantastic arrangement of sculpture along Poydras Street. Walking down and back from my son’s apartment to the Running of the Bulls I took photos of a few of them that I’ll share with you.

I don’t know what I like the best… the sculpture by Ray Smith… or the giant poster for Zatarains.

Even Facts Change

Posted on by Bill Chance

It is said that ‘change’ is the only real constant. It may very well be fact, but then again, even facts change and that may be the fact that governs us all.
—- James Surls, artist statement

Standing Vase With Flowers, James Surls, 2010 Colorado, Bronze and Stainless Steel
Poydras Street, New Orleans

In the City of New Orleans there is a fantastic arrangement of sculpture along Poydras Street. Walking down and back from my son’s apartment to the Running of the Bulls I took photos of a few of them that I’ll share with you.

Walking down Poydras, I spotted another sculpture along the street and immediately knew I had seen this sculptor’s work before.

It was Standing Vase With Flowers by James Surls… and I had seen his work at the Irving Arts Center Sculpture Garden and at the Frisco Sculpture Center.

It gave me a comfortable, warm feeling to see work from an artist I was familiar with – echoes of shapes from a long way away and a long time ago.

James Surls, Again in the Meadows, plus a construction crane, a pile of dirt, and a stop sign

James Surls, Star Flower
reflection
(click to enlarge)

James Surls, Star Flower
(click to enlarge)

James Surls, Star Flower
inverted reflection
(click to enlarge)

James Surls, Star Flower
(click to enlarge)

James Surls, Again in the Meadows

David in Bluestone

Posted on by Bill Chance

“People are so fucking dumb. Nobody reads anymore, nobody goes out and looks and explores the society and culture they were brought up in. People have attention spans of five seconds and as much depth as a glass of water.”
― David Bowie

David, by Boaz Vaadia, 2009, New York, Material: Bronze and Bluestone
Poydras Street, New Orleans

In the City of New Orleans there is a fantastic arrangement of sculpture along Poydras Street. Walking down and back from my son’s apartment to the Running of the Bulls I took photos of a few of them that I’ll share with you.

From the exhibition Label:
ABOUT THE ART”
“David” is a bronze casting of a larger-than-life-size figure that was sculpted in layers of bluestone. The unique style of Vaadia’s work is directly inspired by the natural formation of stone in the earth and other forces of nature. Through the materials he works with and the sculpture he makes, Vaadia explores the primal connection of Man to Mother Earth.”

Down at the river end of Poydras is another sculpture entitled “David” very different than the one by Enrique Alferez that I wrote about the other day. This “David” is by Boaz Vaadia and is an almost-abstract figure of bronze cast from flat layers of stone.

I’m sure thousands of commuters drive by every day on their way to work and thousands more tourists go by on their way to the French quarter or the Casino. None of them notice the giant figure standing there at the intersection. Shame, really.

Seven Points of View

Posted on by Bill Chance

“I assert that the art of sculpture, among all the arts connected with design, is at least seven times greater than any other, for the following reason: why, sir, a statue of true sculpture ought to have seven points of view, which ought all to boast equal excellence.”
― Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography Of Benvenuto Cellini

Gymnast, by Enrique Alferez, bronze, Poydras Street, New Orleans

In the City of New Orleans there is a fantastic arrangement of sculpture along Poydras Street. Walking down and back from my son’s apartment to the Running of the Bulls I took photos of a few of them that I’ll share with you.

The first one that I noticed was a beautiful bronze woman in an athletic, dancelike pose, rising above the median only a few feet toward the river from where my son lives. Looking it up, I wasn’t too surprised to find out it was another work by Enrique Alferez like the nearby Lute Player and David – which I wrote about the last two days.

Alferez has work all over the city.I must make a list and try to get to some more the next time I visit.

Beautiful And True

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Why do beautiful songs make you sad?’ ‘Because they aren’t true.’ ‘Never?’ ‘Nothing is beautiful and true.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Lute Player, Enrique Alferez, New Orleans

On the right side of the entrance to the First Bank & Trust Tower on Poydras street, downtown New Orleans – is the huge statue of David, which I wrote about yesterday. On the other side, also done by Enrique Alferez is “The Lute Player” a softer sculpture, adding a little contrapoint.

No One Had Responded To Its Message

Posted on by Bill Chance

“On the prow of the wagon, in an attempt to attract business among the Quarterites, Ignatius taped a sheet of Big Chief paper on which he had printed in crayon: TWELVE INCHES (12) OF PARADISE. So far no one had responded to its message.”
― John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

Saint Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, French Quarter, New Orleans

I’m getting packed, getting ready to drive to New Orleans for a week of this year’s Writing Marathon.

Trapped In the Amber Of the Moment

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas

Sometimes it seems that time is going by slowly, sometimes it seems like it is moving too fast. Oddly, often, the people around you seem to feel the same way. I’ve always wondered if this is really true – maybe times speeds up and slows down, that it isn’t always just in your head.