Joel Shapiro- Untitled
Shapiro – Untitled
Background:
Joel Shapiro grew up in Queens, New York, where he was born in 1941. He spent most of his childhood here, except for a brief period where he resided in Texas due to his father’s work in the military. He spent two years in India at age 22, working for the Peace Corp. Shapiro attended New York University to become a physician, but quickly realized his passion for art and discovered his drive to create sculpture that evokes emotion and interaction with an audience, which would later become his main focus as an artist.
Shapiro’s work consisted solely of sculpture. His works utilize wood, wire and metal casting, as a medium. Most likely because he enjoyed the simplicity of these materials and their ability to showcase the geometry of the work, rather than having the focus be on the medium itself. As identified in his work, Shapiro’s intent was to create physical pieces of art that an audience could interact with. His earlier sculptures show the inspiration he took from the time he spent in India, by their small size and physiological appearance. Later on, he was said to take inspiration from peers in the community such as, Carl Andre and Robert Morris. His work however seems to juxtapose the bright mediums those artists were using, focusing more on the physiological appearance and expression of the form.
The 1980’s:
At the time of creating Untitled, in 1980-81, the United States was in a very strange state for politics. The Cold War had ended, Reagan was in the process of being elected, and the AIDs epidemic had begun to reach mass consciousness. Focusing in farther, New York had a sprawl of urbanism, deeming it a great place to make statements as an artist. Shapiro used this to his advantage in creating publicly displayed sculptures across New York as well as other large North American and Asian cities.
Interpretation- Blake Jeffcoat
Statement:
This sculpture is depicting a person walking forward on a rough terrain. This sculpture represents how we have to push forward and put effort into balancing our lives to reach success. This seems likely because the rock bed of this piece seems to be almost a walkway for this person. This would be a metaphor for how life is rough, but if you can push through these rough spots you can get to smooth ground. The sculpture balancing emphasizes how hard the journey of life can be and how one needs to pick themselves up and keep pushing to reach a happy life. This explanation fits with the location of the statue because it is placed in front of a gym which symbolizes effort and perseverance.
For this project, we decided to make a realistic drawing of a man walking across a bed of hot coals to represents the themes of perseverance and overcoming the obstacles one faces in life.
Sources:
https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/434/joel-shapiro
https://www.history.com/topics/1970s
https://www.theartstory.org/movement-contemporary-realism-artworks.htm#Pnt_2
Credits:
Isaac Rhodes – Research/Photography/Wordpress
Blake Jeffcoat – Research/Coordination/Interpretation
Trevor Straus – Artist/Interpretation
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