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I have
taken the furrows of the field and reoriented them from the horizontal
to the diagonal vertical. I have dug holes in the terraced furrows
and planted the string spheres, which is my Genesis
seed. The composition is wedge-shaped, as a plow that
tills the soil. Aratro's four major sides provide balance
in five different positions. The plow image occurs along its
fifth diagonal axis, though balanced it appears precarious. Have
you ever had the opportunity to plow the Earth from behind an
animal? Then you know what precarious relates to.
Aratro is the largest
of my bamboo castings to date. As I worked on this piece
and all the others which constituted the works for the Firenze
exhibition in Ken's Gallery, I felt that my sustained focus and
energy had in some manner ushered me into another Corridor
of the Archetype. I felt emotionally connected to both materials
and emerging form. For the first time in my many years of working
in Italy, I had a car parked just without the studio door. I
could have gone anywhere, any time. I was compelled by the energies
within the the studio not to venture out . . . I might miss something
. . . it might go on without me. During the ensuing months
I cavorted with ecstasy. Once the bamboo was positioned
I never changed an angle. The first placement was the correct
placement each time, and thus the building of the first piece
through the last was accomplished with very little effort. I
hope you who work in art have had, or will have, such an experience
- ecstasy - sheer ecstasy. I
am not sure what the formula is for sustaining such results.
Aratro is shown photographed
above the city of Florence in the Piazza di Michelangelo. In
1998, Aratro was purchased for Fresno Art Museum's permanent
collection to be displayed in their new sculpture garden in Fresno,
California. |
