About the Artist

Mark di Suvero was born in Shanghai, China in 1933 to Venetian parents. He and his family then immigrated

to the United States in 1941, when he was eight years old, and where he went on to study at the University of California at Berkeley where he received a BA in Philosophy. He is said to be an important artist that emerged from the Abstract Expressionist era. He moved to New York after he received his BA and where he began working in construction and as an artist. Di Suvero is an activist for peace and social justice and his art reflects this, but within his pieces his experience in construction is also very prevalent. He is most commonly known for smaller works made with welded steel, which he started creating when he was confined to a wheelchair after suffering from an elevator accident, these include “Preliminary Maquette For Moto Viget” and several untitled works. He designs his work to interact with the viewer and the elements and he even hopes that viewers will climb on and experience his pieces.

During the time period that this piece was made the US was feeling an ever growing social and political divide and caused huge amounts of civil unrest. The anti war movement swept across the nation as many people viewed the Vietnam war as an unwinnable; causing the US to remove its troops as of April 30th, 1975. The anti-war movement was just the tip of the iceberg in regards to social and political unrest with events such as the watergate scandal, women and black rights protests, and environmentalist movement only adding to the unrest. Conservatives were quick to label the younger liberal generation as a bunch of whiny, spoiled, and strung out hippies. Be that as it may, these “hippies” helped turn the civil unrest in the 70’s into an active movement to de-marginalize previously oppressed groups in this era and to give mother nature the respect she deserves.  

The views of Mark Di Suvero aligned closely with the hippies of the 70’s. According to his website, “Mark di Suvero is a lifelong activist for peace and social justice”. Though there is little to say the meaning behind “mindseye”, we believe his interactive art style allowed his viewers to use the art as an escape from the everyday commotion. Di Suvero considered himself to be an abstract expressionist; an era which thrived on art pieces with wild and spontaneous expression. Abstract expressionism was meant as a way for artists to be critical of the war movements of WW2 and the vietnam war; something that Mark Di Suvero was actively opposed to.

Reactions

“When I first came across this structure my attention was immediately drawn to the clusterfuck of metal suspended in the middle, and only after about 30 seconds of observation did I notice the now obvious eye connected to the group. This element seemed to be as inconspicuous as the plain base and enclosure for this metal grouping- and I fully believe this to be intentional. My feelings for this art piece closely reflect the nature of the design being that at first they were chaotic and confused like the cluster of metal featured in the middle, but as time passed and I looked closer there was definite order in the structure and support of this cluster, and the eye was placed just far enough outside the cluster that it seemed to stem a feeling of peace within the chaos.”  -Max Hughes

“The eye was placed just far enough the cluster that it seemed to stem a feeling of peace within the chaos.”

“When I first saw this sculpture, I was rather underwhelmed. I had known previously that di Suvero is the same artist who created the massive, imposing red beamwork of a sculpture that sits outside of the Performing Arts Center on Western Washington’s campus. Mindseye is a metal ring about a meter wide that stands atop a wooden platform. Suspended from the top of the ring and hanging in the middle is a congregation of sharp, metal, abstract figures, one of which appears to be an eye. The notion that the same person who created that monolith also created the humble-in-size Mindseye, tucked in a corner of the library, that could easily be hidden by a rolling rack of books, was rather humorous to me. The more I thought about it, however, the more I thought that Mindseye made sense. Of course a piece in a library would be more muted and thought-provoking.”  -Andrew Garcia

“There are so many elements to this piece and it seems like there are many ways to interpret it.”

“The pieces changes dramatically depending on what angle you look at it, and this adds to the complexity of the whole thing. It seems that because of the complicated ensemble of this piece, it is very much open for diverse interpretations from person to person.  I also found its placement interesting, considering it is in the library and close to the outdoors that could add to the meaning of the sculpture. My opinion of the piece is how complex it is. There are so many elements to this piece and it seems like there are many ways to interpret it. Depending on what way you look at it you can get a different meaning from it. But I think the intention of the jumble is to make it look like a brain, which could mean a plethora of different things.”  -Anna Roberts

Works Cited

History.com Staff. (2010). The 1970s. Retrieved February 04, 2018, from http://www.history.com/topics/1970s

Mark di Suvero. (n.d.). Retrieved February 05, 2018, from https://americanart.si.edu/artist/mark-di-suvero-1279

(n.d.). Retrieved February 05, 2018, from http://www.artincontext.org/artist/artist_statement.aspx?id=9078

The People History — Steve Pearson. (n.d.). 1970s Important News and Events, Key Technology Fashion and Popular Culture. Retrieved February 05, 2018, from http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1970s.html