Dear Daimaru,
I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with you over the last two weeks. I was always moving, trying to find a deeper meaning within you from all the various angles. I do have some experience with art and attempting to find inner meaning within art. However, I do not have much experience with your type of art. When I first met you, I was very intrigued by you. I gave you the nickname, “whimsical circle,” because that’s what first popped into my head when I had seen you for the very first time. However, when I was able to go home and research you, I found your name means “great circle.” Sadly, this was about all I could find out about you. It is very hard to find information about you on the internet, something that is very surprising at this day in age. We have had our share of time together and have gotten to know each other fairly well. I want to take the time with you today to talk about my interpretation of the argument you make and what it means to me and others who decide to spend time with you.
As we have bonded over the last couple of weeks, I have become comfortable enough with you to call you Daimaru. This, however is not your true name. Your creator, your father, Michael Todd, gave you the name Daimaru XV. This does indeed mean that you have at least 14 additional siblings. Glad I’m not you. You were created in 1981 and you now call the Sculpture Garden of the Sheldon Museum of Art home. Your creator, Michael Todd, was born here in Nebraska, which could be why you were brought back here to live. His fascination with Japanese calligraphy is greatly reflected in you. He has created many great works throughout his career, you of course being one of the best. He wisely chose to make you out of lacquered steel. This was a very considerate of him, considering he was simply thinking of how to make you withstand the harshness of the environmental conditions. However, the steel he created you out of has taken a bit of a beating through the thirty some years you have been out in the environment, but you still stand strong and unfailing. Mike definitely knew what he was doing when he created you.
When I first saw you the day we were all out and about picking sculptures to befriend, I first referred to you as “the whimsical circle.” This nickname of mine is quite appropriate, I believe, because you are quite quirky and unusual for a circle. Your upper half appears to be almost a perfect circle, but then you go to utter chaos towards your bottom half. You are a fairly large sculpture. You expand about 11 feet both ways, quite impressive I must say.
You have weathered a bit throughout the years. While at first you had the original metal tone that steel naturally takes, the weather did to you what weather has a tendency to do to metal. You have now taken on a darker, more copperish tone due to the rusting that has occurred. Don’t worry though, I think the rusting adds a little something to your deeper meaning.
The first thing I really noticed about you was your bottom portion. Your visual hierarchy is definitely reversed if you think about it, because the first thing everyone looks at is your bottom half. You have a lot of things going on down there! There is quite a bit of repetition of shapes throughout your lower portion. There is only one shape that you only have one of, and that is your most organic element. There are plenty of rectangular, circular, and wavy shapes that are repeated two or three times throughout your “body.” The organic shape, that vaguely reminds me of a pool of water, is the only one of its kind throughout you. This truly intrigued me, therefore I came over to find out more about you and figure out why this was.
One day when I was spending some quality time with you, some lady who was taking children around on tours referred to you as a “circle of life.” This description was something I found particularly insightful and, as I pondered it, completely true. Mike’s intention was to demonstrate associations with the universe and imposing harmony on chaos through you, and I believe he accomplished this with great ease. You do symbolize a “circle of life” in my eyes. The way you are all smooth and almost perfect along your top portion and then go to complete and utter chaos towards your bottom half is very symbolic to me about how life is fore most people. Even when things are going smooth and the way we want to in life, there is still something that gets thrown in that changes all the plans and throws a dent into life. I find that very inspiring about you. You make me ponder about your true inner meaning.
I thoroughly enjoyed your company over the last couple weeks. I feel like we got to know each other very well. You raised many questions within me about what exactly Mike was trying to accomplish when he created you. Although I know I don’t have you figured out to the fullest, I do believe I have part of your deeper meaning figured out. You challenged me and I appreciate it greatly. Thank you for the challenge. I’ll treasure the time we spent together for quite some time.
Your friend,
Jamie
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
WP3: Statement of Purpose
In these modern times, art can be just about whatever we want it to be. Many people see abstract art as pieces of garbage that a five year old could do, while others see abstract art as exquisite works that can never be outdone. Art is primarily in the eye of the beholder. Sculptures are no different. Some people could pass a sculpture and think that it’s just this large circular object that isn’t quite a perfect circle, while another person could see it and try to analyze the deeper meaning beyond the exterior appearance of the work of art. As I analyze Daimaru XV by Michael Todd, I need to be direct and efficient with my writing. I need to convey my message in the clearest way possible. Because this project is unlike the previous two projects I have done, I need to find a way to convey all the ideas and meanings that my sculpture represents. By accomplishing this mission, I hope to give people a better understanding of Daimaru XV and of art in general. I want to demonstrate to my audience the argument created within the sculpture Daimaru XV. The argument this sculpture portrays is demonstrated through aesthetic and rhetorical elements that appeal to both pathos and logos, through the title of the sculpture and through the elements in which the sculpture was placed. I want to enlighten my audience on how the sculpture is demonstrating the various ideas the sculptor intended it to demonstrate.
My audience will primarily be my teacher and my classmates, but also various people walking by as they see us perform our readings. I know my main audience fairly well and am aware that they will also be doing projects similar to mine, so they will be expecting certain things from
my presentation. My primary audience has the same knowledge and terminology that I do, therefore this will contribute to how they criticize my performance and overall reading.
I will also have a secondary audience of various internet bloggers and searchers who happen to come across my blog either by blogging or through a random search engine. This audience won’t have the background knowledge that I have, therefore I need to take this into mind and create an essay that will appeal to this audience as well. I need to appeal to this audience and also inform them of the ideas that my sculpture is trying to portray.
Art is a major part of the world around us. It communicates to us in ways that verbal communication cannot satisfy. The major goal of my essay/letter is to help others better understand the message being relayed by the sculpture Daimaru XV. If I am not successful in demonstrating this argument, the audience will not be able to fully understand and appreciate Michael Todd’s sculpture. The audience will have the ultimate decision in whether I am successful or not, however. If I am successful, then the audience will leave my performance or essay with a better understanding of the underlying meaning within Daimaru XV and other art in general. If I am not successful, then the audience will leave without gaining the knowledge and understanding I had hoped they’d gain.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Historical Analysis
Michael Todd’s sculpture Daimaru XV was created out of steel in 1981. The sculpture is located on the west side of the Sheldon Art Gallery on the UNL campus. The sculpture appears to be somewhat of a whimsical circle, as I have taken to calling it. The title Daimaru is Japanese for “great circle.” The sculpture is a reflection of Todd’s apparent obsession with Japanese calligraphy (sheldonartgallery.org). Todd holds many meanings with the sculpture, “including associations with the universe and the idea of imposing harmony on chaos.” Daimaru XV consists of both geometric and organic elements. These elements are ones that can appear in abstract paintings. This connection would make sense, considering Todd was inspired by painting and was constantly “trying to paint with steel” (books.google.com).The material that this sculpture was made of is steel. This has a lot to do with the overall appearance of the sculpture. Most of Todd’s sculptures were made with this media. He also began to make a majority of his sculptures with the intentions of placing them outdoors. The elements of the outdoors drastically affect the overall appearance of the sculptures.
The steel sculpture was probably more of a metal or silver color when it was first created and placed outdoors. Now that it has been outdoors for almost 30 years, it has rusted because of the weather. This oxidation has changed how a person views the sculpture. It now looks much older than it really is, and could possibly look like it may fall apart due to its age. However, the sculpture is quite strong and still quite young. The weather aged it, but as it aged, it added some depth and reality to the sculpture. Everything ages and that is reflected within the sculpture because of the weather. It goes along well with the overall theme that Todd associates with the sculpture and the universe and imposing harmony on chaos. The additional stress from the weather could be added chaos to the sculpture.
Works Cited
http://www.sheldonartgallery.org/photos/graphics/sculpturebrochure.pdf
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