Ruth Asawa: The beauty of intricacy

Ruth Asawa’s exhibition was mesmerizing, the attention to detail and movement was unparalleled. This picture won’t be able to accurately translate the intricacy of the woven pattern and how they intertwine one another. To me it is also an illusion, trying to determine which shape inside which is difficult, this is attributed to perspective yes but I thought it was cool. I haven’t seen other artwork that made me stop and think twice in order to determine how the artwork works. When I saw her artwork my immediate thought was “damn that must’ve taken forever” which goes to show her passion and dedication to her craft.

This picture of her working inside of her sculpture further emphasizes this point. Also having minimal wire working experience is difficult and annoying I must say it is only for the patient. Ruth Asawa agrees too she once said “Sculpture is like farming, if you just keep at it you can get a lot done.” (source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/ruth-asawa-reshapes-art-history Have to site my sources you already know) If you think about it her artwork is the manipulation of a line an actual line can be made into numerous shape, I have to give credit where it’s due Asawa has talent and imagination.

When Professor Eversley reminded us to that sculptures are meant to be looked from different perspectives I decided to take this picture. Looking at it now it looks like a completely different sculpture compared to looking at it straight-forward , it appears now that the shapes are on top of one another and the inter-woven shapes add to the dimension of the sculpture by making it more complex to look at.

By far the most fascinating thing we learned at the exhibit was Asawa’s relationship to her art and where it stemmed from. Asawa had a strong bond to Black Mountain College which goes to show that education has a tremendous impact in shaping who you become. One of her professors at BMC was a dance teacher which is evident throughout her artwork. Dance has shape and movements and you see that in the sculptures from the way they expand and contract. Her work is also influenced by her time spent in Mexico in 1947 where craftsmen were the ones who taught her how to manipulate wire into any shape or form she desired.

Although similar structures they vary in one thing, color. I associate colors with moods when I see yellow I think happiness and when I see red I think anger. Perhaps Asawa wanted to incorporate color in order to evoke a certain emotion from her audience.