Sunday, August 20, 2017

Easy Come Easy Go - LSP

Having been a docent at Laumeier for more than five years I cannot help but notice our outdoor museum does a remarkable job of exhibiting contemporary sculpture. At the same time, as I watch works come and go, I cannot help thinking that nothing lasts forever.  

Ernest Trova (1927-2009) is perhaps most famous for his falling man series but Poet Sitting by a Tree is one of seven works in a series focusing on the silhouettes of one or more figures. The poet is abstract image of a poet as he calmly rests by a tree in a meditative state. Trova’s gift of forty works to St. Louis County helped Laumeier Sculpture Park come into being.  This sculpture is not currently on view. Of course, if you are a fan of Ernest Trova you will note that his works are on view in Clayton, Brentwood, Buroughs High School among other locations around town. 

Jene Highstein (b. 1942, Baltimore, MD; d. 2013) earned a BA in philosophy from the University of Maryland in 1963, completed postgraduate work in philosophy at the University of Chicago, and committed himself to art practice in 1966. He was influenced by Minimalism and began to work in large-scale, simplified sculptural, and monochromatic forms. Iconic Minimalist artists, such as Donald Judd and Sol Lewitt, emphasized stark geometry and pristine surfaces. Ada’s Will is a ferro cement sculpture based on what Highstein described as a vocabulary of basic imagery that is found by observing natural forms. Another Heighstein sculpture entitled Window 1/3 is on loan from Laumeier to Webster University.
Matts Leiderstam (b. 1956 in Sweden, based in Stockholm) investigates the mysteries and veiled narratives that populate paintings across art history. Viewfinder was a part of the artist’s multilayered response to Laumeier’s River between us but is currently under repair.
Hawthorn Tree by Isaac Witkin (b1936) is on loan from Laumeier and can be viewed at Lambert Airport. 
David von Schlegell (1920-1992) a Saint Louis born abstract sculptor and painter who was also a professor emeritus at the Yale University School of Art. His father was William von Schlegell, an American Impressionist painter. David von Schlegell studied painting at the Art Students League in New York, where his father taught. He turned to sculpture in the early 1960s. This Untitled sculpture which is not currently on view at Laumeier shows the artist’s interest in engineering and aircraft 
construction methods. 

Alison Saar (b. 1956, LA, CA), daughter of artist Betye Saar, continues her mother's attention to marginalization of women and minorities. Leelinau was installed high in a tree top along a trail until it fell and was damaged beyond repair more than a year ago. 
The current exhibition in the Adam Aronson Fine Arts Buildingh is evidence of four decades of working with artists who have created, planned, proposed and collaborated with Laumeier. The fine arts building opened last fall. A number of works were put into storage during construction I'm told. I'm hoping to see the return of Muro by Walter Dusenbery and Plaques by Jenny Holzer. In the meantime the patio is blooming with flowers and in the distance you can see Tony Tasset's Deer.
Note: All photos in this blog post are by Wes Morgan except Window 1/3 by Jene Highstein and Hawthorn Tree by Isaac Witkin. 



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