sculpture – obBLOGato

Figure

As a lunch-time exercise in a workshop, I took this suggestive, close-up picture, abstracting it from its context, seen better to the left.

I’ve often posted here before on weird, open spaces, often called liminal spaces, that are neither here nor there, in between, on the threshold of elsewhere. A related concept is Foucault’s heterotopia, which I’ve also explored in earlier posts. Here, a look at a concrete terrace outside the Hayward Gallery cafeteria, separating it from the Waterloo Bridge. Get ready – more are coming.

More Sugimoto

I never knew about these metallic constructions of his. In the first image below I’ve centered and isolated the structure in black and white on its mirrored plinth, in the next I show a little more, including the reflection of a passerby and, in the final image I show the whole room with the object centred so as to cover the structure shown above (click on any of the smaller images to see them enlarged – clicking through to the web site first if you’re seeing this in an email).

Fountain

Couldn’t believe they had (the 1964 replica of) Duchamp’s famous urinal on display and I almost walked right past it. Also some suspended objets (below) that I don’t remember the story of.

Haegue Yang

An interesting sculptural piece that plays with Sol LeWitt concepts. Click on the images below to see them enlarged.

Skylight

Art Imbricated

These planters with sculptural plastic flowers in among the real flowers surrounded the base of one of Chicago’s iconic skyscrapers, the Hancock Building, if I rightly remember.

Mirrored Globe

The NHS sent me for an annual blood test at the local hospital. Outside I found this sculpture surrounding a mirrored globe in the car park. I’m not sure what it’s about but I had to see what it would look like in a photograph.

KMSKA

Our final morning in Antwerp was spent at the KMSKA (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen), which underwent a massive refurbishment for many years. It’s a stunning museum and as you can see I continue to be interested in capturing the spaces, the geometry, the whiteness (and blackness), the symmetry and awe of this cathedral to the beauty of the capitalist art world. Please do click into the images below to see them all full-sized (you may need to click on the post title above first if you’re seeing this in email).

Streets of Antwerp, the Fritkot

Click any picture to see them all bigger.

Sint-Jacob Antwerpen

Saint James Church Antwerp

Evidently James is an English version of Jacob, via Latin and Old French. A monumental, lavishly decorated Gothic church, home to the tomb of artist Peter Paul Rubens which, alas, was closed with a lot of the church for renovation when we were there. The rear wall you see in the first picture with window light falling on it from the right is actually a painting on a barrier. Click any of the pictures to see them enlarged (unless you’re seeing this in email, in which case you may need to click the post title above first).

Grote Markt and the River

After the cathedral we walked to the Grote Markt (the central market square or “big market”) and on to the riverside, walking up to the Lange Wapper a statue of a character from local folklore who appears to be urinating on some of his supplicants. Click pictures to see them larger (click the post title, above, if you’re seeing this in email and clicking pictures doesn’t seem to work).

Cathedral of Our Lady

Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal

Some touristy postcard snaps of this magnificent cathedral, famous for its Pieter Paul Rubens paintings. You can see his Descent from the Cross in the 5th picture above and next to it an homage by Sam Dillemans. The accompanying brochure explains that the very realism of the Rubens fails to perturb the contemporary viewer as it ought, where the brutal impasto of the homage succeeds (it’s difficult to write sensibly about art). Click any of the pictures to see them all big (you may have to click the post title, above, first if you’re seeing this in an email).

Streets of Antwerp

Just some street shots from our first wander around Antwerp. I spotted the older fellow in the shot on the right and bottom left while we were stopping for a sandwich and he looked so forlorn and hungry I planned to go talk to him when I was done and see if he needed some help (or food) but when I next noticed him he was walking past with a tray piled with food, so I guess my initial prejudices were wrong. Click any of the pictures to see them all bigger (if you’re seeing this in email you may need to click the post title, above, first).

In Bruges

We took the train to Bruges for a day. It’s a beautiful city with scarcely a modern structure to interrupt the ancient lines. However it was absolutely rotten with tourists dawdling and gawking about, making many of the streets impassable and forcing one into pathetic tourist impostures oneself. As a friend of mine from Antwerp commented, “nobody from Belgium goes to Bruges – it’s for tourists.” Or, as Yogi Berra is reported to have said, “nobody goes there anymore – it’s too crowded.”

Click on any of the pictures to see them bigger (you may have to click the post title above first to make this work if you’re seeing it in email).