Isamu Noguchi was much more than just a critically acclaimed sculptor during the 20th century. He was a man who breached different disciplines throughout his career as an artist. He created and worked with gardens, furniture, lighting design, ceramics, set design, and architecture. Throughout his artistic lifetime he worked with a lot of different people doing a lot of different things. He worked with an architect on a playground design and also created many different stage sets for famous dancers, choreographers, and composers. Noguchi also took inspiration from different areas of the world including Mexico, Japan, China, and Italy. On top of taking inspiration from different places he didn’t to the kinds of materials he used. He used everything from basalt, granite, and wood to even water. Through his extensive travels his eyes were opened to different perspectives and ideas that ultimately contributed to his pieces including “Skyviewing”.
Isamu Noguchi’s 1969 sculpture titled “Skyviewing” can easily be described as a tilted cube with circular cutouts on three sides, however, its special qualities are weightlessness and enduring sense of space. It balances on small brick pillars, providing a large opening from below that invites the viewer inside. From beneath this massive cube, the viewer can look out into the moving sky. Some people believe that the circular cutouts represent the sun, which can be a symbol of creation. Seeing as the viewer is part of the sculpture, Noguchi uses that to propose the unification of man and nature. This sculpture embodies the qualities of postmodern conceptual art which was the art movement taking place in when this work was made. Minimalistic in look and meaningful in its invitation, Skyviewing encourages us to bask in a peaceful moment and simply gaze at the sky.
As for our group interpretation, we decided to focus on the differences among people’s perspective and the interactiveness of the sculpture. Though we enjoy Noguchi’s meaning behind his sculpture, interpretation is welcome in the art community. Diversity and human connection are just two things that society is striving for in order to reach a degree of peace. The seemingly odd circles that people on campus look out of create a different view depending on one’s height, attention to detail, time of day, etc,. However, we are all joined together through the simple experience of just looking up and walking through a random cube on campus. Dozens of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and outlooks on life walk through this sculpture on a daily but do they ever stop to think about it? Probably not, but that’s okay because they are still experiencing the piece. The point of this sculpture in this rapidly changing society is to look past our differences and strive towards creating meaning in one’s own life.
Credits:
Artwork: Mariah Deady
Video: Cyrus James
Blog Text: Dulce Facundo-Rodriguez and McKenzie Hanson
Bibliography:
https://www.noguchi.org/noguchi
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1967.html
https://observer.com/2019/01/1969-art-50-year-anniversary-sol-lewitt-romare-bearden-philip-guston/
https://www.parkwestgallery.com/50-years-major-art-news-1969/
Noguchi, Isamu, and Dakin Hart. Isamu Noguchi Archaic/Modern. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2016.
Noguchi, Isamu, and Ana Maria. Torres. Isamu Noguchi: a Study of Space. The Monacelli Press, 2000.NAPK1987[1]NAPK1987[1]
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