Sculpture: Woman and girl in merry-go-round delight

I found this sculpture here without the title and the name of the artist.

I remember the feeling when I was a child when an adult did it with me. It felt so good!

Oben Abright's glass people

Oben Albright was exposed to art very soon and used to paint, draw and sculpt with clay at his parent's studio.

In 2004 he received his BFA in glass from California College of Arts and Crafts. His work has been shown with Habatat Gallery Chicago, now Echt Gallery, and maintains a studio in Oakland, Ca.

This is what he says about his work:



“Human emotion is a subject of infinite artistic value. My work portrays the faces and experiences of people around me. As a sculptor working in clay I wanted to show more internal imagery behind the still face of a figure. This desire to reveal the interior has led me to pursue the transparency of glass. A glass figure conveys fragility and communicates through light better then one in any other medium.”

Oben Abright



He uses other materials but blowing glass is at the core of most of his work. I would love the technique used to mold the glass.



In 2008, Albright went to Burma and visited the war zone. He had an accident:



Antonio Graceffo wrote about it:



"On a recent fact finding mission into the war zone in Burma, San Francisco glass sculptor, Oben Abright, became the latest casualty of the world’s longest running conflict. Oben’s hand was crushed in a motorcycle accident near a military checkpoint. It took seven hours to evacuate Oben from the conflict zone to a hospital in the city, where he lay on an operating table for another three and half hours before surgeons could finally begin a procedure to install six metal pins, connecting his shattered bones. Two weeks after the accident, Oben flew back to the United States for outpatient care. Over the next two months, he is expected to make a full recovery.



Having read about the conflict in Burma and the genocide being perpetrated on the Shan and other minority peoples, Oben had the idea of using his art to raise awareness of one of the world’s least reported wars. "



“Sculpture is the most powerful medium of art.” Explained Oben. “Sculpture occupies a three dimensional space.” He went on to say that when people buy a sculpture for thousands of dollars, they put it in a prominent position in their house. They like to know the story behind the sculpture. And they like to tell their friends about it.



People in the west have become immune to the countless sad images on TV of exotic people suffering in some remote corner of the world where we have never been, and where we will never go. How can television and media reporting create awareness and empathy when they have simply become so much background noise?



Unlike print media, sculpture cannot be ignored.



The accident occurred on Oben’s second trip into the war zone. During his first visit at the Shan State rebel Army (SSA) headquarters, Oben lived in a community of several thousand displaced Shan people, and heard their stories first hand.



After photographing orphans, widows, amputees, soldiers, and civilians inside of the conflict zone, Oben Abright plans to feature the Shan people of Burma in an upcoming sculpture series.



Below is the full story of the incident. When the story originally appeared, Oben’s name had to be changed. He was originally called “Unten.” Now that he is safely out of the conflict zone, the story can be released with his real name. keep reading.

Sculptures in paper: Jeff Nishinaka and Paperfetish

Leftt: Writer by Jeff Nishinaka

Right: Kaneda by paperfetish



I just found these two artists that work with paper.

Enchantment is the word that most describe my feeling when I look at these pieces.

Visit the site of the artists to see what they have to say.

I'll stay here watching these two.

Isn't it amazing the way they do the shadows? The lights from the right one...

"Freedom" by Zenos Frudakis: A sculpture commissioned by the slave creator lab GlaxoSmithKline

The sculpture "Freedom" by Zenos Frudakis, done in 2001 for the laboratory GlaxoSmithKline, is exhibited at the Philadelphia headquarter of the laboratory.

He also did two works with GlaxoSmithKline former CEOs Joseph J. Ruvane and Sanford Altwood and painted Sir Paul Girolami, former CEO, Glaxo PLC.



I believe that the Zenos is not aware of the numerous harms caused by medicines sold by this laboratory.

The antidepressant Paxil/Seroxat alone causes addiction; suicidal and violent behavior that makes people kill themselves or others; it is tetarogenic, and all the other harms caused by SSRIs antidepressants - Prozac-like.



Antidepressants SSRIs don't help depressed people and the most common is that the person who has clinical depression takes all the brands on the market and are not helped, The numerous side effects are added to the pain. The hypothesis that depression is caused by a "chemical imbalance" of serotonin has already been proved wrong and these antidepressants  reuptakes serotonin in the brain, 5 per cent, and rest, 95% goes to other parts of the body creating a huge amount of harms.



Impotence and lack of sexual desire, inability to achieve orgasm and other sexual dysfunctions are caused by SSRIs and it can last even when the person quits the drug.

There is a Yahoo group  SSRI-sex Yahoo group created in 2005, where some people exchange their pain and try to find solutions but they didn't find any relief. 

 "Freedom" is not a concept that goes well with laboratories as many people have been saying over the internet in testimonies and in blogs. 

For GlaxoSmithKline Bob Fiddaman haa been exposing  at his blog Seroxat Sufferers:  Stand up and Be Counted. Seroxat is paroxetine that is sold in America as "Paxil" and in other countries as "Aropax".

The UK Parliament has already done a good review in 2005 , "The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Company"(click at the link to read the .pdf.) but nothing has changed.

Excerpt:

5. Problems with Seroxat and other SSRIs

Prozac and Seroxat are the best-known examples of SSRI and related antidepressants, but others are widely used. The introduction of SSRIs led to a threefold increase in antidepressant prescriptions between 1990 and 2000. Prescriptions for antidepressants now match those of the benzodiazepine tranquillisers at their peak, 25 years ago.



Almost from the outset, there was concern about two main problems with SSRIs. First, there was suspicion (initially centred on Prozac) that these drugs could induce suicidal and violent behaviour – infrequently, but independently of the suicidal thoughts that are linked to depression itself. There was also concern (centred on Seroxat) about a risk of dependence; some users found it impossible to stop taking SSRIs because of severe withdrawal symptoms.



The MCA/CSM formally reviewed these problems on several occasions. The suicidality problem was first investigated in 1990/1; withdrawal reactions were investigated in 1993, 1996 and 1998. In 2002, the MCA organised a further intensive review of both problems. This review was abandoned in April 2003, following criticism about conflicts of interest involving key figures on the review team. (emphasis added)

For a long time most artists are committed with the great causes like human rights, freedom of speech and all the problems that citizens of the world are facing. It is disappointing when it goes the other way.  

Mark Twain, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Joe DiMaggio, contemporary governors, mayors and academical people were sculpted by Zenos creating a heteroclite and strange hall of fame.



"I'm not duplicating life. I'm making a statement about human values." said Duane Hanson a great sculpture that used hyper-realism to talk about human condition. I did two posts about him: "Duane Hanson complex's world" and here.





Update: April, 17, 2013

The sculptor Zenos Frudakis left a long comment explaining that the sculpture was not commissioned by GlaxoSmithKline although all the data I search claims that it was done for the laboratory. This is what he said:



"I am Zenos Frudakis, the sculptor of Freedom and the portraits you have discussed. I appreciate your concern about prescription drugs. The tragedies of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson are witness to this justifyable concern. There are some things you won’t know about the sculpture if you are not standing in front of it.



The client for this sculpture was the building developer, not the pharmaceutical company. GSK is not the owner of the sculpture, nor does it have anything to do with the sculpture. The developer asked me to create this sculpture for the front of his building. The major renter of the building for some years has been GSK, who is now moving, and not taking the sculpture with it. It doesn’t belong to them. I do not have control over the renter of the building. The next client will likely be a business, because it is an office building, but it could be a non-profit organization like Red Cross or Greenpeace.



I agree that artists need to be ethically responsible, and of course I did not create the sculpture to promote drug addiction. The sculpture is about freedom. Long after many renters come and go in that building, the sculpture will remain and Freedom will endure.



Regarding the variety and scope of my portrait sculpture, I am a professional working sculptor. As such, I am commissioned to create portraits of people. I have, from time to time, declined to sculpt people I felt would compromise my ethical integrity.



This is how I make my living. On my own, I sculpt people I admire. If you view my portfolio, you will see I have created portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Margaret Sanger, Darwin, Einstein, Thoreau, Emily Dickenson, Churchill, Anne Frank, Roosevelt, Nietzsche, John Muir, Rachel Carson, Alan Turing, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and many more. Portraits that I do on my own are my personal choice, and they are not going to coincide with everyone’s personal favorites.



I am driven to create art that promotes a better world, but like everyone, I am limited by time and financial resources. I sincerely do my best."



This is what Zenos wrote but I still do not understand  the reason he used as models two GlaxoSmithKline former CEOs:



Joseph J. Ruvane, former CEO of GlaxoSmithKline. Bronze, over-life-size sculpture. Research Triangle Park, NC



Sir Paul Girolami, former CEO, Glaxo PLC. Oil on canvas, life size. London, England.

Walk on the wild side: Tiger and Turtle on German

Projected by Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth Tiger and Turtle is a giant "walking-coaster" made of steel and zinc.

Creator Ulrich Genth said:

'"The roller coaster stands for acceleration and high speed of a tiger but the visitor has to explore it step by step like a turtle."

The sculpture is located on Heinrich-Hildebrand-Höhe in the Angerpark and is free for visitors. For more AP/AAP pictures here but I believe we have better walk. What about the loop?

Oscar Wilde quotations

"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you."

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

"One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards."

"Only the shallow know themselves."

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

"Man can believe the impossible, but can never believe the improbable."

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."

Oscar Wilde

Image: Oscar Wilde's statue Merrion Square, the location was well chosen as it overlooks the home of Oscar's parents. by Raymond Okonski

Eamonn O’Doherty

Eamonn at the relocation of Anna Livia to the "Croppy Acre" a mass grave of fighters executed in the 1798 Rebellion

I was sad to hear of the passing of Eamonn O’Doherty at the age of 72 from throat cancer. Whilst remembered for his art and public sculptures he was an Architect by profession and was my Studio master when I was studying at Bolton Street.

Eamonn, who was born in Derry in 1939, was responsible for some of the best-known and loved works of public art around the country, including the Quincentennial Sculpture in Galway's Eyre Square, the James Connolly Memorial across from Dublin's Liberty Hall, the Great Hunger memorial in Westchester, New York, - and, of course, the Anna Livia fountain (aka, The Floozy In The Jacuzzi), which was relocated to Croppy Acre Memorial Park near Heuston Station last December.

His friend and fellow artist Robert Ballagh is quoted in the Irish Independent paying tribute to Eamonn;

"People who ramble around our streets will be very familiar with Eamonn O'Doherty's work as the creator of extraordinary public sculptures. But those of us in the arts business also know of his talents as a painter and a graphic artist.”


'The Tree of Gold' on the Central Bank plaza on Dame Street, Dublin

"Eamonn will be remembered for his work. His piece 'The Tree of Gold' on the Central Bank plaza on Dame Street is a great example and is important in the context of the city as all sorts of people, from political protesters to punks, gather under the shade of Eamonn's tree.”


The Anna Livia monument is a personification of the River Liffey (Abhainn na Life in Irish) which runs through the city. Anna Livia Plurabelle is the name of a character in James Joyce's Finnegan’s Wake who also embodies the river. The river is represented as a young woman sitting on a slope with water flowing past her. She is familiarly known by the people of Dublin as the Floozy in the Jacuzzi, or the Whore in the Sewer (pronounced hoo-er to rhyme with sewer) among other names. Both nicknames were encouraged by Eamonn who was no respecter of formality.


At the casting of Anna Livia in 1988

Like myself, Bobby Ballagh didn’t qualify as an architect and lived near to Dublin’s Bolton Street College (now the DIT) in Broadstone. I have a fond memory of Bobby regaling me in a local hostelry with the tale of how he didn’t become an architect. He was playing in the Chessmen Showband and kept missing lectures and project deadlines. Things came to a head when his Studio master Pearse Mc Kenna (brother of the actress Siobhan McKenna and also one of my lecturers) confronted him and ended up breaking a T-Square over his head! That was the very moment when Bobby decided he was going to be an artist, not an architect!


The Great Hunger memorial in Westchester, New York. It depicts an Irish family walking away from their home in the 1840's to make the dangerous voyage to America in the "coffin ships."

For many years a senior lecturer in architecture at Dublin Institute of Technology, O’Doherty also lectured at the University of Jordan, University of Nebraska and École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. He retired to make art full time in 2002, and his work was most recently exhibited at the Graphic Studio Gallery in Dublin.

O’Doherty was also an accomplished photographer, and had an abiding interest in traditional music. In the 1970s he collaborated with Allen Feldman to produce The Northern Fiddler (1979), for which he wrote the introduction and contributed photographs and drawings. Indeed I remember hearing Allen play and introducing many in Ireland to the folk music traditions of the Appalachian Mountains which has its origins in the musical traditions of Irish and Scottish immigrants. This was the musical nursery which gave birth to Bluegrass and Country and Western. A musician himself Eamonn played the flute and also briefly managed the folk group Sweeney’s Men.


Eamonn O’Doherty's marquette for a Famine Memorial featured at “An Gorta Mór – Ireland’s Great Hunger” Exhibition in New York last year

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/07/gorta-mor-irelands-great-hunger.html

Eamonn is survived by his wife Barbara Ní Brolocháin, son Eoin and daughters Aisling and Megan.


Eamonn with his wife Barbara Ní Brolocháin and artist Charles Harper at an opening of Charles's exhibition in Wexford earlier this year

As for Eamonn, a talented artist, sculptor, photographer, musician, architect and a sociable individual, with his sculpture ubiquitous in Ireland it could be said of him as it was of another architect;

"Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice"

For more on Bolton Street see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/bob-geldof-and-me.html

The James Connolly Memorial across from Dublin's Liberty Hall

Two Calder's sculptures missing since 1984 in Rio de Janeiro

As today Calder would have celebrated his 113th birthday I cannot help remembering that Rio de Janeiro's city hall took these two works by Calder from the park where they were for restoration but in November, 1985 they disappeared.

Nobody knows what happened and they are missing till today 26 years later.

It was a scandal and many people have manifested in newspapers wrote letters and petitions to the mayor and even the police has a record of the occurrence but they are still missing.

The right one, Stable, 1941, was a donation by Calder during the acquisition of the mobile "Rio", 1951, by Rio de Janeiro government.

Another work by the Brazilian sculptor Sérgio Camargo was broken last Mars and it is still there as if nothing had happened.

They were really amazing and I have a very good recollection being at the park and stopping to interact with one of the sculptures that were there.

This is a shame.

Happy birthday Alexander Calder but be careful to whom you donate your work.

Artist and activist Ai Weiwei is released in China after 81 days in Chinese prison

After 81 days in Chinese prison the artist and activist Ai Weiwei is back at this studio as the Reuter's picture shows. I knew Ai Weiwei because of videos, statements and interviews the British sculptor Anish Kapoor, that I like very much, did to denounce Ai Weiwei imprisonment. In one of them he rejects a British exhibition in China that would take place at Tienanmen Square as a protest for Ai Weiwei imprisonment.  

I loved Weiwei  work immediately and felt ashamed I didn't know him yet. 

He has a great work and is a very bright man, a man of dignity and integrity. Still that is the way Chinese government treats one of it's most important artist because they cannot listen to any phrase that shows any kind of dissent.

The most ridiculous example: this blog. After I published two posts this one and this the blog was blocked in China.  What does this blog have of importance? What is written in these posts that is so offensive? The truth?

Yes. Chinese people in general don't know about Tienanmen Square, 1989, when the Chinese government massacred young people in one of the most cowards ways.  



Now with Lybia and Syria and others it is hard to rank who is the worst.

But having these kind of massacres, I'm listening to the TV and they are reporting crackdowns. How to describe it? 

I changed the subject.

But as Kapoor said in May, 10 for BBC about Ai Weiwei prison and he don't even know him personally:

"It's a month now that the poor man has been held without a voice, but not only that, his family doesn't know where he is," said Kapoor.

"This is not a situation that is acceptable in any circumstances.

Kapoor, left, has called on the art world to support Ai Weiwei

"It does bear witness to the barbarity of governments if they're that paranoid that they have to put away artists. It's a ridiculous situation."

Kapoor exhorted the artistic class and galleries and museums to be active in situations like that saying that museums, for instance could be closed for one day.

I agree with Kapoor. Too much is happening and I don't see artists and those people who belong to the "cultural elite" doing what they used to do: say "NO".

"This make us back to a Soviet-style time when the voice of artists... were seen as being dangerous."

Kappor said.

I remembered dictatorship times in South America when artists also "disappeared". This is unacceptable and we have to say it repeatedly: "NO!" NEVER AGAIN!"





Welcome back Ai Weiwei! We'll be watching Chinese government watching you.