As soon as I walked up the flight of stairs into a lightly lit room with wooden floors and white walls, I could already see the works of art in a distance. The dark bronze and ash black color of the wires of Ruth Asawa’s work was of great contrast to the walls, making the work stand out. Furthermore, each installation was large and grand. One could tell how much work and effort went into each piece.
Asawa talked about her technique before saying, “I was interested in it because of the economy of a line, making something in space, enclosing it without blocking it out. It’s still transparent. I realized that if I was going to make these forms, which interlock and interweave, it can only be done with a line because a line can go anywhere.” She also mentioned that her courses at Black Mountain College with choreographer Merce Cunningham were inspirational as well. One can see that most of her work displayed are surrounded around shapes, form, and movement: how much room it takes up in an amount of space and the weaving of the whole piece which is in unison throughout.
One of my favorite pieces incorporates her description, but unlike much of her other works, this one reminded me of snowflakes and stayed true to its form majority of time and most obviously of all the other installations: a line. As I got closer to one from the left hand angle, I noticed the bundles of wires bended at the same angle to create thickness for the centerpiece and smaller, single wires added at the end of each wire. Other than the fact it reminded me of my split ends after I bleached my hair blonde and dyed it back to black, it also reminded me of a chaotic mind and a loss of one’s trial of thoughts. If one started at one point, they could end up anywhere because there are an infinite amount of paths to take and an infinite amount of possibilities. There was no way to tell where the start and end of the art was. Coincidentally, snowflakes also all have different shapes and sizes.
Asawa was a Japanese American during World War II and had been interned at the assembly center hastily set up at the age of 16. I can imagine the amount of thoughts rushing through her mind as she was taken away from her home, one of her siblings as well as her father and stripped of everything her family had ever had. For some reason, I have a feeling her pent up thoughts, her outrage and search to find words to describe her discrimination, and her hatred during the long years of the war went into this art piece. The snowflake could have represented harsh winter and reality of December 7 for Japanese immigrants and their children which put them in internment camps.
I had gone gallery hopping with my friends in high school in the more popular exhibits, but I did not know was that the installations were meant to be sold and the walls were always white on purpose. I thought they were simply exhibits to showcase to people who loved and appreciated art. This one gallery taught me a lot of what I did not know and I cannot wait to find out more about the art scene in New York City.
