Delicate, Yet Strong Loops

Ruth Asawa. A Japanese American, just like me.

Before arriving at the David Zwirner Gallery, I had read an article about her life and the inspirations surrounding her work. There were many aspects of her upbringing that resonated with me and my childhood. An emotional time in Asawa’s life, the cruel reality of the Japanese Internment camps was something she struggled with. The way she faced discrimination just because she is Japanese is something I can relate with. Of course, my struggles as a child is nothing compared to hers but it was something I could not ignore. This information that I obtained prior to entering the gallery gave me some degree of emotional attachment and empathetic view on her work.

My first initial impression of the gallery was a feeling of tranquility and peace. There was natural light seeping in through the pure white fabric curtains which gave each room a beautiful glow. Similarly, the walls were white, like an untouched canvas, and gave each artwork the spotlight it deserved. There were three rooms and each exhibited many of her works including her paintings, art on paper, looped wire sculptures, and her tied wire sculptures. The sculptures were delicately hung up by a thin piece of string. This also gave the illusion that some of them were seamlessly floating around in the gallery which made the experience even more engaging. I attached a video in this blog-post of my perspective when I was walking around observing the sculptures. I noticed that looking at one sculpture in the slightest different angle can change how the piece of art looks and the interpretation of it.

Hanging Eight Separate Cones was an installation that I could not take my eyes off of. It stood out. This sculpture was something different than many of the other works that were surrounding it. I noticed that many of Asawa’s tied loop sculptures presented a circular shape, but in this particular one, there were no circles or curves

The title explains for itself, the appearance of it shows eight consecutive triangular cones hung from the ceiling. Though, looking at this, I believe it is much more than just eight cones. Looking closely, (right before the tip of my nose touched the work, just joking) I saw the detailed works of Ruth Asawa. Goosebumps on my arm, every corner of the sculpture was looped around with a metal wire forming intricate circles and loops to finally form a larger shape. I couldn’t imagine how much patience and skill was needed to achieve such a mind-blowing sculpture. I also appreciate Asawa’s works because not only is it satisfying to look at, but because when I see the sculpture, I see a story. The quote down below explains it better than I ever can, but it is interesting to keep that in mind the next time you take a look at her works. A cleverly crafted metaphor for life in which Asawa starts with one wire and keeps on looping it and does not stop until she reaches her final, satisfied shape. Life goes on and the path to success is to keep on walking forward until a goal is reached.

When you put a seed in the ground, it doesn’t stop growing after eight hours. It keeps going every minute that it’s in the earth. We too, need to keep growing every moment of everyday that we are on this earth. –Ruth Asawa