Intensification Writing Project

During our past two classes we have been exposed to different forms of “music” if you will. The two artists we were exposed to had two different definitions of music. John Cage felt that the silence and everyday noises was music. He points out that those everyday noises are never the same, unlike some music that is composed, it does not try to imitate things. In contrast, Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips wanted to expand the idea listening and composing. Thus he created an album that must have all four cd's playing at the same time to get the desired effect of the composer. He created it so that each cd was playing the same song but was featuring alternate parts.

In the same way, Tony Smith has created his own view of sculpture and art. He expands off of the idea of geometry and geometric shapes. When I first think of geometry, I think of drawing the shapes we learned in class on a piece of paper for the teacher to examine. These one dimensional shapes were distinct and did not strike me as any sort of art. Tony Smith combines aspects of geometry into his works. He incorporated his background in architecture with the knowledge of everyday shapes. “Willy” is an expansion of geometric shapes. When an audience looks at Tony Smith’s Sculpture they first see a black metal mass that is almost awkwardly formed to sit on the ground in front of the Westbrook Music Building. However the audience must look deeper into each section of the sculpture.

While thinking of a way to properly answer the questions, or topic, for this post I had to keep in mind the idea of intensification. I remembered the way each cd was as important as the next. So I needed to step back and think of ways in which Tony Smith would try and expand the simplicity of sculptures and create an expansive and more intricate piece of art. As I looked at “Willy” I noticed that you could break him down into things as simple as squares or parallelograms. Each shape worked together to create others. When looking at the sculptures around it I noticed that most of them were mate of smooth edges and had very little segments or parts that could be taken apart to find another work. “Will” is also one plain color; black. However this seemingly normal color stands out in its surroundings, intensifying the color’s appeal. Not only to the parts or segments if you will, of “Willy” work together to create the sculpture; the environment in which it is placed also adds to the piece. When looking at “Willy” from one angle you can see the buildings surrounding him; Architecture Hall and Westbrook Music Building for example. From a different angle you can see more of a nature centered background with the Sheldon art museum in the background. This expands on how “Willy” could fit in more than one situation.