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What to Look For in Monumental
Sculpture
By Beau Smith
Monumental sculpture is exceptionally large sculpture.
It is called "monumental" because monuments are often
large sculptures. But such sculptures are not just
monuments. Any large public sculpture, or any large
sculpture, for that matter, is monumental. What should
you look for? It should be sturdy and long-lasting. It
should have a powerful presence. It should be the
product of a big idea. Last but by no means least, it
should be safe. I will review these criteria.
A public sculpture has to be a lot sturdier and a lot
more structurally sound than a sculpture that goes in
someone's backyard. The collector who buys art for the
home or outdoor landscape would hope his purchase was as
structurally sound and sturdy, but it rarely is. One
should not be too upset about this. Public sculpture has
to be exceptionally sturdy. The sculptor who attains
public placement usually has a level of professionalism
that recognizes the demands of public sculpture, demands
that are different from backyard and garden sculpture.
Generally, the bigger the sculpture, the more
structurally sound it has to be. If the sculpture is
bigger than human-size, it moves out of the realm of
that which the private art collector would buy and
deeper into the realm of public sculpture. Thus,
sculptors who regularly produce large, monumental pieces
- anything over six feet tall or wide - tend to produce
very sturdy pieces. Sculptors who regularly produce
small work - anything less than four feet high - tend to
have much less concern about structure and sturdiness.
This may seem obvious, but it is something to remember
when commissioning large pieces.
Aside from structural integrity, monumental sculpture
offers, or should offer qualities that do, as it
happens, reflect the title "monumental". Large sculpture
should stand out. It should have a powerful presence. It
doesn't necessarily have to leap out at you as a
billboard would. Rather, it should have a powerful
presence that does not have to leap out at you like an
advertisement. The sculpture should give the viewer the
feeling "Ah, here's something." The sculpture should
capture your attention with its powerful presence. It
should evoke awe and wonder - as well as any other
emotions.
Big sculpture must present the "big idea". So if you
were to say, "What's the big idea?" And someone pointed
to the sculpture and said "That is, over there." You
would have to agree, "Yeah, I guess you're right. That
is a big idea." Some ideas should not be big: They
should not be presented in large work. That does not
mean the idea is any less worthy. It's just not a big
idea...yet, anyway.
A sculptor need not come up with lots of big ideas. He
might come up with one big idea and work that idea for
years, perhaps a lifetime. Another artist might be
comfortable working out little ideas, one and then
another. Neither artist is better. The little idea
artist should not, however, be making large, monumental
sculpture: not unless he's found a big idea, or melded
all the little ideas into a big one.
The last criterion for monumental sculpture one is
pragmatic - and important, prosaic as that criterion
might be: large sculpture has to be safe. Such sculpture
is often made of metal. If it is not made of metal, it
can be made of stone or concrete. The point here: Most
materials a large sculpture can be made of are not soft.
Therefore, they should not have any uncommonly sharp
edges. For sure you expect a public work to be devoid of
that. But the private sculpture also has to be safe. We,
the general public, assume the sculpture is safe whether
it is or is not. Thus, the creator of large sculptures
has to take safety into account. If the work has a
patina, is it safe to handle the work? Have any excess
chemicals been washed off? Can the sculpture poke
someone in the eye? Is it possible to walk into the
sculpture and hurt oneself? And so on.
The private collector should think about this. He is not
as protected as the buyer for public work. The buyer for
public work is going to think about safety. The
residential buyer, not necessarily. But he should.
Beau Smith is a professional multi-media artist who
creates human-sized copper frogs. He also paints,
writes, makes music, and designs for the web. His site
is at http://beautifulfrog.com |
