Dia:Beacon!!

John Chamberlain is an artist that caught my attention when we first arrived at the Dia:Beacon. Aided by the vast ceilings and amble amount of space in the gallery, my attention was immediately focused on this large, surprisingly colorful sculpture that occupied a large portion of the room. This sculpture, The Pivet, by John Chamberlain was made in 1997. What i enjoyed most about this sculpture was that, for me, it was successful in two different aspects. From a far, as one enters the large gallery space, the bright colors in combination with the height and size of the piece draws one's eye in. As he or she approaches, the piece takes on a whole new beauty. From up close, one recognizes that this piece is in fact made up of sculpted automobile parts. These automobile parts are treated with a number of different designs, as a result of Chamberlains many techniques to create the bright, graffiti-like design. After the pieces are painted, Chamberlain then crushes these pieces and rebuilds them, essentially welding the piece together. As stated in an interview, Chamberlain believes the automobile parts take on a new form of canvas and that his "painting" of the automobile parts, its very much like any painter on a canvas. John Chamberlain, who was born in Indiana before moving to Chicago, was a veteran of the Navy. Once done serving his duty, he attended art school at the Art School of Chicago as well as Black Mountain College. Heavily influenced by his college professors at Black Mountain College, Chamberlain responded to the poets Charles Olsen, Robert Creely and Robert Duncan. For Chamberlain this "confirmed his understanding of the ways in which everyday elements...could be mobilized...to make unexpected kinds of sense...." (Dia:Beacon). Once out of college, he moved to New York City and began working with automobile parts, solely because they were virtually free. Over the years, he began experimenting with the automobile parts before finally arriving at The Pivet. This piece is one of Chamberlain's largest pieces and it was during the creation of this piece where he began to push the envelope of what was known and expected. Personally, this was my favorite piece of the whole exhibit. The fact that he took something so common as scrap car parts, and completely revamped them and composed them into something that one wouldn't think to be aesthetically pleasing, to me, is fascinating. I was drawn to this piece in the gallery, and after reading more about it, only grew fonder of the piece, as well as the artist.