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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Visual Art Submitted for Dan's Approval

Posted by Jen Graves on Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 4:29 PM

Remember good times, Dan?

This here is the sculpture sitting outside my dorm-room window at American University in D.C., where I'm going to be spending the next couple of weeks It's on the lawn of the Katzen Arts Center, which is next door, and where I have to be shortly for an NEA reception (Rocco, come crash! We journalists want to meet you!). I Googled, I searched the Katzen's site (is it me or is it them?), I went outside and traipsed around in the D.C. humidity even, and I could find no label for this sculpture, which may or may not be related to the piece next to it (is it by this artist? this artist? this Seattle artist? actually, I know it's not by that Seattle artist). Does this make me a dummy? Entirely possible. I got up very early this morning. In any case, here is this slightly hairy-looking lattice flattened donut, and the little steel curve-wave-whale-fin in the grass across from it.

5129/1244759590-100_1249.jpg

Comments (15) RSS

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It is probably by Patrick Dougherty.

Posted by Slaggy on June 11, 2009 at 3:40 PM

Could be, but to me it looks a little too restrained for Dougherty (http://www.stickwork.net/installations.p…), who had an installation in the reflecting pool at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma when that museum opened (2002: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35248595@N0…). The base got all rotten and it sagged in this great way before its scheduled removal.

Posted by Jen Graves on June 11, 2009 at 3:54 PM

Have a nice vacation in DC!

Posted by PC on June 11, 2009 at 4:00 PM

I was just going to ask if this thing had sagged, and was originally round.

Posted by Fnarf

on June 11, 2009 at 4:14 PM

It reminds me of Kawashima Shigeo's work.

Posted by minderbender on June 11, 2009 at 4:21 PM

Man, the Katzen has a really terrible web presence, don't they? Yecch.

Posted by Fnarf

on June 11, 2009 at 4:21 PM

looks like a baby Serra

Posted by Mad_Brad on June 11, 2009 at 4:23 PM

So, ummm, I cheated. And I feel pretty bad about it.

But seriously, it wasn't difficult. I just googled "bamboo donut american university" and then did a ctrl-f for "bamboo."

So I guess it's called Ring. It looks as though it's intentionally oblong rather than round. It is described as "A great, cheap date!" You too, Ring?

Posted by minderbender on June 11, 2009 at 4:35 PM

I LOVE the steel piece. Definitely not a Serra. I'm pretty sure I've seen similar work, somewhere in my travels. Maybe the grey matter will kick start and I'll remember the artist's name tonight.

Posted by fARTing on June 11, 2009 at 5:01 PM

I like them both. I REALLY like the hairy squashed donut... Whoa, does that mean I'm a lesbian??

o_0

Posted by merry on June 11, 2009 at 5:04 PM

a shark headed for a hairy donut. i like.

Posted by ellarosa on June 11, 2009 at 8:07 PM

Looks like Mono-ha. Japanese traditional artists who used vernacular material, were true to materials and made works that were interventions into space. look how the bamboo is placed on stone.

Posted by knowability on June 11, 2009 at 11:32 PM

It looks like a single link from a chain.

Posted by kresblamania

on June 12, 2009 at 4:43 AM

Someone guessed right. That is "Ring" by Kawashima Shigeo. The metal sculpture is by Tom Weldon. We just started putting sculpure out on the grounds of American University and don't have those expensive outdoor labels yet. As for our web presence being crappy... that is pretty cold!

Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator, American University Museum, and Seattle native.

Posted by Jack Rasmussen on June 12, 2009 at 6:25 AM

Ms. Graves,

Kudos to you! Your use of the phrase "The base got all rotten..." in your response to #1 displays your facility with the English language.

Cheers!
FS

Posted by FreudianShrimp on June 12, 2009 at 8:47 AM