Art In Seattles Public Places - Research Paper Example

 “Hammering Man” Sculpture - Jonathan Borofsky Introduction Jonathan Borofsky, born in 1942, is a sculptor as well as a printmaker from America, who is best recognized for his kinetic sculptures' "Hammering Man" series that are located in several cities around the globe. The Hammering Man sculptures are created to represent all manual laborers, workers, and crafts individuals all over the world. Typically, the movement of the arm is turned off during the night and on national days intended to respect workers, such as Labor Day holiday in United States. “Hammering Man” is one of Borofsky’s signature pieces during the period of 1980s. It demonstrates a lanky silhouette figure with his head bent, hitting a metal piece held in his right arm with a hammer held in the hand of his moveable left hand. Analysis The identification of Borofsky with workers and childhood memories of sitting on the lap of his father while being narrated stories concerning friendly giants were the inspiration for him for implementing the “Hammering Man.” Borofsky started the series in 1976 by drawing a figure that focused on a photograph in the book titled “Book of Knowledge” of a Tuscan shoemaker. The “Hammering Man” first three-dimensions with a flexible arm were about 11 1/2” high and shown at the Paula Cooper Gallery in the year 1980. His second dimension was a bit larger than the first one, painted red, with the word “strike” on it, which referred to hitting something and stop working, stenciled on the torso and displayed at the Los Angeles County museum that dealt with artwork in 1981. The third dimension was 24’ high and was presented in 1981 at the Kunsthalle Basel. Borofsky showed exhibited five hammering men the following year in Rotterdam and Kassel, in Germany, which was aligned at dissimilar angles and each striking sculpture striking down at dissimilar times. The other installations displayed in public are located in Seattle, which is 44’ size in front of a bank located in Basel, and a 70’ tall work based in Frankfurt (Rupp 6). Borofsky argues that his “Hammering Man” is not an innocent sculpture. He constructed the figure to be a universal image that would be experienced in particular meaning from its physical and temporal context. He claims that, “the boring, monotonous reoccurrence of the flexible arm illustrates the fate of the mechanistic world,” (Rupp 9) and the design is used as “a symbol of the underpinned worker in this new, computerized technology revolution. It displays the migrant worker who picks the food eaten, the construction worker who constructs the buildings lived by people, the maid who cleans individuals’ houses and offices every morning and evening, the shoemaker – they all use their bare hands like an artist.” (Rupp 10). Borofsky also illustrates the “Hammering Man” as an assembly-line worker homage who will be extinct for almost 50 years, and therefore demonstrates the death of an age.” Not only the title, Borofsky also built an androgynous “Hammering Man” at California Mart through addition of the outline of a tuft of hair on the head of the statue. He assigned 3066277 numbers to the statue instead of signing it. This identification system connects to his art pieces, emerged from a process started in 1969 when he started counting few hours a day to quiet his mind. As the main showroom for the garment industry, California Mart illustrated the work as a symbol of “growth, creativity, and progress.” California artist who would enhance the building and donate to the city’s cultural life interested the California Mart management in commissioning public art piece. Joyce Hunsaker, who hired as an art consultant, selected Borofsky after reviewing slides of most of the artists. Borofsky paid a visit to the site prior to executing the work. At the process of getting the required allowance from the city to locate the work, the Building and Safety sections demonstrated “Hammering Man” as a symbol due to its moveable arm. This categorization led to the delay of the installation because the staff refused to provide a permit until the tenants in that environment approved the “sign”. (Rupp 13). In his statement as an artist, Borofsky comments that, “Hammering Man celebrates the worker, whom is the village artisan, the computer operator, the South African coal miner, aerospace worker or the farmer – the individuals who produce the commodities which rely on it” (Rupp 16). Regarding its long labor radicalism history, Seattle seems to favor the blue-collar dark-horse, at least in theory. With public profession Puget polis of progressivism, one would expect the natives to rave against the colossal worker illustrated so prominently in the towns’ heart, particularly regarding its implied critique of the bland anonymity of the globe of work. However, such a direct prediction would fail to consider love of pranks of Seattleites and self-parody their significance irreverence, and their close interactive association with their public art (Cathy, n.p). In various instances, politically motivated performances have temporarily and respectfully changed the statue. Borofsky’s spiritual nature work is tied to political and social views, to a grave concern for the people and the character’s respect. Among his current installations are individuals walking to the Sky, which was commissioned, by Rockefeller center that was facilitated by the Public Art Fund. This is a work placed in the world’s heart. Borofsky has re-engaged an earlier opinion, with this piece, Male Walking to the Sky, which was represented in 1990 at Document IX, work that emerges from a previous drawing in 1977. In the Kassel work, he constructed a solitary man heading skyward. The tableau present version is more comprehensive, there are more figures of particular kinds and characters, differentiating in age, race, and gender, which shows al kinds of human beings (Waldman 78-80). Conclusion In conclusion, the “Hammering Men” constructed by Borofsky appear to act as both observed and observers, as if in Greek drama, implying that they watch the figures walking toward the sky, may with an experience of their fate. To many individuals, the “Hammering Man” image undoubtedly conjure up memories of 9/11, souls rising, people on; yet the being demonstrated are marching in an orderly fashion, striving towards destinies, or goals, seemingly moving towards the future. Again, Borofsky argues to his audience via these images, providing them with memories that their shared commonality, their humanity, is the knowledge that they are here to attain. Similar to that, Borofsky’s sculptures ensemble act also as a respite meaning that, it is a place to go and reveals, separate from the teeming individuals and the din that fills and surrounds the site. The mysterious hammering man implies a constant reminder, banging a silent tempo, considering the time with each strike it makes with the hammer. Through it, both the artist, Borofsky, at work, and the public at work stand dignified. Similarly, he has adapted his persona and its manifold incarnations to the outdoors. With this developing and observable oeuvre, Borofsky goes on a path that eloquent his public spirit. Working on the globe, outside the confines of the contemporary gallery scene, he is widening the individuals’ sense of what his art can be and what objectives it can attain in the future. Works cited Cathy, Curtis (1990). Art Museum Gets Borofsky's 'Ruby' Work. Los Angeles Times. Web. Retrieved November 1990. Rupp, James. Art in Seattle’s Public Places. University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1992, pp. 1-37. Print. Waldman, Selma. Nailing Hammering Man. Seattle: Open Hand Pub., 1992, pp. 76-84. Print. Read More