John Buck Reprised and Now on the Green Line / Transit Mall

Lodge Grass ~ 2000

Cast bronze, 49.5 x 15.5 x 12 inches, Edition of 3

Back in May, Fifty Two Pieces featured John Buck. The Portland Art Museum owns a number of his wooden pieces. Lewis and Clark is home to some of the very tall bronze sculptures. However, all of us in downtown Portland can now enjoy one of his smaller, four feet high, pieces. Lodge Grass is a cast bronze and is located on SW 6th, just south of the rather large Lee Kelly that we'll have to showcase in the future. Portlanders are very fortunate to have so much public art on their streets. 

John Buck from Inside His Studio TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2009

Amy's link yesterday to ARTWORKS will give you an insight into John Buck, the man and how he came to be a word carver. All through school his sculptures had been made from found objects from other people's yards. During a semester abroad spent in England while he was in graduate school, Buck found that he was cut off from that source. As a result, he began to use the piles of wood the school provided him. He says it took him a while but he finally bonded with this new process and the rest is history so to speak. 

John Buck's own website John Buck Art opens with the image above, a look inside his studio. This and other photos from his spread in Montana would indicate that he has spent many years collecting tools and carving pieces that he can use in future assemblages. Here's another view of his studio. 

It's almost as if you can see the bones of the works he will create – a look inside John Buck's mind.

Dan Flavin ~ (to Donna) II Background Information

Take a close look at the image of untitled (to Donna) II 1971 and then look at the original image used here at Fifty Two Pieces on December 17, 2009. Notice anything different? Voice from the Couch is always up for these sorts of questions and his response was the image is flipped. Yes, indeedy, that is a true statement. As the image exists out there on the internet, the blue bulb is on the left, pink on the right. Truth in blogging, I must tell you that as exhibited at the Portland Art Museum the blue tube on untitled (to Donna) II 1971 is on the right, pink on the left, yellows on the bottom. Images seem to get reversed as you can see in the Flickr photos below. Some show the blue on the right and others blue on the left.

Being intrigued by whether the blue should be on the right or on the left, I did some further sleuthing and found this image in "Portland Art Museum - Project for the Millenium". Voice from the Couch is kindly assisting in bringing you this image.

Not completely satisfied and knowing that Flavin made copious notes for each of his pieces, I did some further investigating into untitled (to Donna) II 1971. Flavin did dedicate his works to people – artists he admired such as Constantin Brancusi and Vladimir Tatlin, artists who were his friends like Donald Judd. It's unclear though who Donna was. What is clear is how untitled (to Donna) II 1971 should be set up. "How do you know that?" Voice from the Couch asked. Michael Govan's book "Dan Flavin: The Complete Lights" lists all of the 'untitled (to Donna)'s'. It turns out there are five editions of this work, each a bit different than the other. To complicate matters editions 4 and 5 have what I'll call a companion edition 4a and 5a. Click here to see the Google Book Result showing the colored layouts of the editions. Here's a written summary including the number fabricated:
untitled (to Donna) 1 1971 four bulbs (yellow on right, pink on left, two blues on bottom
Fabricated - 1
untitled (to Donna) 2 1971 four bulbs (blue on right, pink on left, two yellows on bottom
Fabricated - 2
untitled (to Donna) 3 1971 four bulbs (blue on right, yellow on left, two pinks on bottom
Fabricated - 1
untitled (to Donna) 4 1971 four bulbs (blue on right, yellow on left, one pink on top, one pink on bottom
Fabricated - 1
untitled (to Donna) 4a 1971 four bulbs (yellow on right, blue on left, one pink on top, one pink on bottom
Fabricated - 0
untitled (to Donna) 5 1971 four bulbs (blue on right, pink on left, one yellow on top, one yellow on bottom
Fabricated - 4
untitled (to Donna) 5a 1971 four bulbs (pink on right, blue on left, one yellow on top, one yellow on bottom
Fabricated - 4
The question still remains in my mind why the signage in the museum shows a Roman numeral and every place else lists an Arabic one. Does it matter or not? Some might say yes, since Flavin was such a stickler for documentation.

Dan Flavin ~ (to Donna) II, His Light and Others

Dan Flavin's week here at Fifty Two Pieces is almost over and we haven't included a single portrait of this artist who had studied to be a priest, served in the Air Force during the Korean War, worked as a guard at various New York museums, changed how we looked at florescent lights, married his second wife in the rotunda of the Guggenheim and ultimately died of complications from diabetes. To make up for that, here is Portrait of Flavin in Kornblee Gallery. It was taken by Arnold Newman in 1967 for Look Magazine. Those jagged edges make it a unique image, one that is not easily forgotten - much like experiencing a roomful of his work. The caption for this portrait says it all.

Flavin's 'proposals' usually take possession of an entire room, making it part of, rather than a container for, the effect. To simulate this, fold the four walls in the photograph up.

untitled (to Donna) II 1971 or as it is sometimes listed untitled (to Donna) 2 1971 is situated on the second floor of the CMCA at the Portland Art Museum. It does become part of the corner where it's installed. The other day the blue tube wasn't on and the entire effect was different. There was no mixing of the palette and the wall seemed so sterile by comparison to its normal colorful glow. Flavin's work in florescent tubes changed the public's view of this standard industrial light. There is other art at the museum that uses light, not florescent, but in the case of Joseph Kosuth, neon.





Five Words in Orange Neon is also part of the collection at the Portland Art Museum. To quote Flavin, Kosuth's work is what it is... five words in orange neon. Compared with Flavin's florescents though it's a different type of light, a different artistic approach. And one that enchanted Emma Paget. After her grandmother took her to the Portland Art Museum, little Emma sent a thank you note and included her version of Kosuth's sculpture.

Kosuth's orange neon has entranced young and old alike. A quick look at Flickr with Portland Art and neon as tags and you'll see any number of images of his work at PAM.
From a different museum and a different artist comes another view of light. Olafur Eliasson's take on light and our perceptions of light can currently be seen in Kanazawa, Japan. Just keep clicking on the page after you initially go to his website (click here) and you'll be able to view a portion of the exhibition. In 2008, I was able to experience Eliasson's exhibition entitled "Take Your Time" at MoMA. The museum's site has quite a few videos and other information about this artist's work with all of our senses, including sight and how light affects our perception of the world around us. The direct link for Eliasson at MoMA is here. Youtube has a portion of some of the MoMA videos. Watch them and you can hear Eliasson talk about his work and see some of his installations.

Dan Flavin ~ (to Donna) II and Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy

It's all about the light – that could be the subtitle of this post. With Dan Flavin (whether it's the Portland Art Museum's Unititled (to Donna) II or this image of Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy (the Diagonal of May 25, 1963) or any of his other more than 750 light sculptures), it's all about the light. Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy (the Diagonal of May 25, 1963) goes by many names. Sometimes it's listed as the Diagonal of May 25, 1963 and sometimes as the Diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi). By whichever name it's listed, this single flourescent tube is the first piece of sculpture Flavin created with just florescent lighting. Prior to that he had been combining both florescent and incandescent lighting in his works.

In 1964, Dan Flavin had this to say about this work and his use of light in general.

"The 'diagonal' in its overt simplicity was only the installation of a distended or luminous line of a standard industrial device. Little artistic craft could be possible." 'Craft', in its strict, traditional definition may be absent from Flavin's oeuvre, but creativity, vision, and intellect remain commanding forces, The 'diagonal' of which the artist speaks is one his seminal works, 'the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusci)' (1963). It presents nothing more than an eight foot long yellow - or "gold" - fluorescent light. This sparing composition was the result of a searching artistic exploration: the hunt for a format which "with obvious electric light ... could become my standard yet variable emblem—the 'icon'"

.
Hear Flavin give an abbreviated version of his artistic statement in this very brief video...


And as a continuation of this week's string of videos here's another from David Zwirner, NYC (Nov 2009). Thanks to Youtube we can all enjoy room after room of Flavin light.

Dan Flavin ~ Untitled (To Donna) II 1971

Dan Flavin was my choice for this week at Fifty Two Pieces. I've always been intrigued by what Flavin could do with a palette restricted to the colors from florescent bulbs. In this case, pink, blue and yellow tell the story. While you're looking at this sculpture, remember what Kenneth Noland the famous color field painter said about his paintings.

I think of painting without subject matter as music without words.

Enjoy the music, I'm off to an holiday event!!!
Flavin's Untitled (To Donna) II 1971 can be seen on the second floor of the CMCA at the Portland Art Museum.

Anish Kapoor ~ Hexagonal Mirror on 4, Tony Cragg on 1

The Portland Art Museum has been very fortunate to host the works of world class sculptors such as Anish Kapoor, the artist of this week's piece on Fifty Two Pieces (see image of Hexagonal Mirror on the left). And in some cases these pieces are reflective metal like Kapoor's. Right now the museum is also exhibiting Tony Cragg's sculpture that remains untitled but stands over seven feet tall. You can see this reflective spiral if you choose the main entrance on SW Park. After you've gone through guest services, you can watch the world through the reflections created by Tony Cragg and by your own mind as it puts together images from the four walls around it –– three sides are Asian, including the red from "China Design Now" and the fourth is from the park across the street. Remember, as you're looking at what's reflected, that only about 25% of what goes to your visual cortex comes from your retinas. Ah, and in my case I'm thinking of the other reflective sculpture that the Portland Art Museum had on display for over two years beginning in 2005 – John Chamberlain's stainless steel Neptune's Cap.


This 8 x 6 x 4 foot sculpture of stainless steel graced the Link Gallery and would stop many visitors for longer than the usual thirty seconds that they would normally spend at most works of art. During the majority of its time here, it reflected this rather large painting by Larry Poons. Keep in mind that Chamberlain's original design was for the sculptor, Donald Judd. Neptune's Cap was to be submerged in the swimming pool at Judd's compound in Marfa, Texas. Unfortunately, Judd died in 1994 while the work was still in design. Chamberlain finally completed the piece in 2005. Since I now know where the piece was originally intended to be shown, I have a difficult time not thinking of kelp - beautiful reflective ribbons from the sea rather than Poons' pinks. Many thanks to Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator at the Portland Art Museum, for arranging these extraordinary loans.

Deborah Butterfield - winter, summer, rain and sun

Martin Friedman, Director Emeritus of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN, discusses in the video linked below the issues of selecting sculpture to be shown outside. The core of these decisions is based on whether the sculpture can withstand the elements of the seasons -- winter, summer, rain, sun. I might add for Minneapolis -- snow, not inches but feet. In any case, the Walker Art Center is home to Woodrow, the first bronze sculpture Deborah Butterfield had made. Prior to that her work had been in metal, sticks, mud, not necessarily suited for the outdoors whether in Minneapolis or Portland. Do a Google search for Deborah Butterfield, click on images instead of web and you'll see any number of her pieces. Or go to Flickr and do a search and the same will happen. Butterfield is everywhere. If you should want to visit, she has homes in Montana and Hawaii which she shares with John Buck, another sculptor of note. Fifty Two Pieces presented a week of John Buck earlier this year. That week is available by clicking here.

Deborah Butterfield ~ Dance Horse and relative at Purdue

Yes, I know. We look similar. And we're related. Deborah Butterfield, the sculptor who created us, makes horses. Some say she has a horse obsession. If you're looking for us, you find us everywhere. A few of us have been able to stay home in Montana. Others of us have have been let loose so to speak and now live elsewhere. Some of us are still inside like I used to be when I first came to the Portland Art Museum. Others of us now live outside like my still unnamed relative (seen in the image above) who just arrived last month at Purdue University in Indiana. Yikes, it's cold there and she is out in front of the Yue-Kong Pao Hall, which opened in 2005. That's the home to the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts.

Much as I do, this horse looks like she's made of wood. I really like the whole positive, negative space thing people talk about – how you can see me for all of what I am and could be in your eyes, but not at the same time. Then look close and you can see the texture and color of wood. Some people actually touch me, expecting that I'll feel softer than the bronze I'm made of, more like the driftwood they "see" with their eyes. How did Butterfield do this? From a collection of wooden sticks, logs and branches, she creates my being. Then there's a lot more work that is best described in this article written about my Purdue relative...

"Photographs of the sculpture were taken before it was carefully disassembled. The individual pieces were then covered with a ceramic mold material that was fired in a kiln, burning away the wood but leaving an impression in the ceramic. After cleaning, the molds were used to cast replicas of the original wood in bronze, and then the molds were destroyed when the bronze was removed to ensure the sculpture is unique. After reassembly of the various parts, the bronze was then treated with a chemical solution that formed a patina that closely emulates the character of the original wood. In most cases, the patina and texture are so effective that viewers believe they are actually viewing a wooden sculpture."

In any case, I may or may not weigh more than the Purdue horse, who everyone says weighs 1,700 pounds. If only more of you would bring me apples and carrots, I know I'd best her on the scales.

Deborah Butterfield ~ Dance Horse

When you're walking by the Portland Art Museum, you're able to see a portion of the collection without even stepping through the doors, let alone paying admission. This week's selection here at Fifty Two Pieces is one of the many sculptures in the outdoor Sculpture Garden. Rain or shine, day or night, Deborah Butterfield's Dance Horse stands as if looking for a carrot, apple or maybe some alfalfa. Butterfield is known for her horse sculptures. This week well be looking more closely at Dance Horse as well as some of the others that she has created over the years and released into the wild.

Lee Kelly ~ Sculptor, Musician and Poet

Take a tour around the internet and you will find a few videos of Lee Kelly other than the one from Oregon Public Broadcasting one that I posted the other day. The first one I've linked here shows a group of men making music on one of Lee Kelly's sculptures. At the end of it, you'll see Lee Kelly climbing the sculpture and sitting on its summit. The second video includes many scenes from his sculpture garden in Oregon City as well as him reading a few of his pieces of poetry. The ending shows him scaling the same sculpture as in the first.



Continuing that tour of the internet and you'll be able to read two of his pieces of poetry, here and here.

And for your viewing pleasure here is the venerable Kelly Fountain at SW 6th and Pine here in Portland. There's nothing like the sound of flowing water, especially on city streets.

John McCracken ~ Stonehenge, Planks

Why wasn't I surprised to see a tall thin man standing erect, pillar like, when I found this image of John McCracken outside his New Mexico home? Later when reading an interview with him he was asked if his planks weren't like portraits of himself. He had to admit that they probably were and he could see himself more often creating portly sculptures if his own body type were not quite so lithe. He very much could be part of Stonehenge himself.

Looking at the photo again and seeing this tall thin man looking skyward, it also wasn't surprising to find that McCracken has a connection with the paranormal, UFO's and aliens. When asked if he is a follower of Eastern philosophy, his response is that he finds it like Western religion, philosophy and psychology -- a bit stilted and rigid. His interests run to Casteneda and Edgar Cayce and the channeled entity called Seth. When describing his own work John McCracken has said:

You've got a physical object that exists in different lighting conditions, environments and you're mixing different states and atmospheres of mind. So you have many possibilities for different kinds of perception. Sometimes my work looks like junk to me-stupid and brainless. And other times it looks like messages from the world I have interest in.

Others have described his work with their finely finished surfaces as being dramatically alive, perhaps like a computer screen or a pool of water. Or somewhere in between -- I know that the Black Box can evoke all sorts of reactions but they're all very positive. Ultimately McCracken's work whether it is the Black Box or his planks is very positive and optimistic.

John McCracken ~ Black Box

Portland artist, Pat Boas, will speak on May 14, 2009 at the Portland Art Museum as part of the monthly gallery talks by local artists. Her talk will involve Untitled, 1969, by Philip Guston and John McCracken's Black Box, 1965. Amy and I have been selecting pieces from these monthly talks to be part of Fifty Two Pieces. John McCracken's Black Box leads off week 19 – it's hard to believe we've been writing this blog for nineteen weeks.

The photo above certainly doesn't do this beautiful black box the justice it deserves. Hopefully we'll find a better one as the week progresses; I can foresee more search time at Flickr. On a recent visit to the Black Box it was its usual beautiful self sitting as a cube, perceived as black as you approach. But then you realize as you stand before it that it is not simply black. It picks up the nuance of the environment around it as it occupies space on the first floor of the Portland Art Museum's Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. Some of the sides are a lesser black, more of a gray. These differences are caused by light and reflection – the reflection of the white walls, the white light, and the white from Robert Irwin's disc that lives next to it.

So except for the thin layer of dust that was on the Black Box's top the other day, we can see reflections of ourselves and everything around us. This is one of McCracken's goals when he makes his highly polished planks, rectangles and cubes. That tension embodies the equilibrium between the figure and the ground, creating a dynamic for us the viewer. We'll be exploring more of this during the days to come. The week's posts could develop into both materialism and transcendentalism. Be ready.

John Buck from Inside His Studio

Amy's link yesterday to ARTWORKS will give you an insight into John Buck, the man and how he came to be a word carver. All through school his sculptures had been made from found objects from other people's yards. During a semester abroad spent in England while he was in graduate school, Buck found that he was cut off from that source. As a result, he began to use the piles of wood the school provided him. He says it took him a while but he finally bonded with this new process and the rest is history so to speak. 

John Buck's own website John Buck Art opens with the image above, a look inside his studio. This and other photos from his spread in Montana would indicate that he has spent many years collecting tools and carving pieces that he can use in future assemblages. Here's another view of his studio. 

It's almost as if you can see the bones of the works he will create – a look inside John Buck's mind.

The Keeper ~ A Leaf, A Shoe

I took the challenge of viewing "The Keeper" from a mere photo on the internet. It's much more compelling in person. John Buck carved each of the elements you see from jelutong wood. Starting on the left is a ethereal leaf, almost as if it could be fluttering as the dragonfly rests momentarily on what seems like a lid. Behind that is the outline of what appears to be an incised globe, perhaps the earth. All of this seems to be held up by a mannequin in a seated position. Visual symbols that independently may seem disconnected but as you let your mind go, you can perhaps feel how ephemeral our lives are and why John Buck may have wanted to preserve them. And what better way than in a glass jar, still visible but shielded.

Oh yes, there's an outline of a shoe there; perhaps I can see it because I know it's there from a previous visit to see "The Keeper" in person. But a shoe nonetheless and in this photo you see a front view of its high heeled style. The Portland Art Museum owns two other larger pieces, including "The Hawk and the Dove", shown below. Look carefully and you'll find some of the same elements of "The Keeper" repeated in "...The Dove". And for an even more intense visual experience you could head to Lewis and Clark College here in Portland where 18 foot bronze versions of these two other pieces are on permanent display.

John Buck ~ The Keeper

The Keeper by John Buck sits in an alcove on the fourth floor of the Hoffman Wing of the Belluschi Building. Children and adults are both drawn to it. Like moths to lights they must see what's inside this jar. Walk around it and they see objects that they can identify but then they also realize that the objects are connected in such a way that they see or think of other objects. Look and see how many you can find.

After that initial fascination, most people begin to talk about why John Buck put this sculpture in a jar. Most of his work is quite large whether it's wood or bronze. Here he seems to be protecting his work much like the artists who build ships in glass jars. The jar itself reminds others of home canning where families preserve the summer's bounty for eating later in the winter. We'll explore more about John Buck and The Keeper here at Fifty Two Pieces as the week goes on.

Dying Gaul

What a year! Sometimes I wonder how I cope from day to day. The giggles and titters from children are one thing. You grow to expect that. But some of the comments from the adults. I'll just say they should know better. At least, now people who come up to me have an explanation of who I am, not just Dying Gaul, John de Andrea 1984. People can read that I'm a polyvinyl sculpture based on a Roman copy in marble of a Greek warrior. That's a mouthful. What I like most about where I've been placed is that more people come by to see me than when I was over in the other building. Museums can be lonely places. Now, everyone who comes to see the special exhibitions has to walk right past me.

Quite a few visitors do come over. Some to ogle, some to admire my suntan (how does that happen when I'm inside all the time). I remember one woman who stood next to me for what seemed like hours, time does go by slowly here. She told me how much I reminded her of a man she used to know. One of the security officers came up to her and asked if there was anything else in the museum he could help her find. Her response was short and to the point. "No, I'm quite happy right here." At least she didn't touch me. Believe me, I'm grateful when the security officers remind people about the hands off policy in art museums.

My big event this year was a trip to Southern California. I know, I know, some of the other pieces here at the museum go to the East Coast and some have even gone to Europe, but being featured in an exhibition at the Getty, now that was something. I was one of 43 painted statues from five millennia. It was amazing to be with works created by El Greco and Paul Gauguin. So, I guess I can't complain. Life is good. I have a roof over my head and a warm room. Drop by and see me. Maybe I should say, come up and see me since you have to come up the stairs after you've been welcomed at the main entrance.