Sculptures by Richard Friedberg, was an exhibit shown in the Yager Museum. The exhibit consists of small scale models of his larger installations. There were a one large scale sculpture there that was a wall fixture, but the models that were sitting on pedestals would have been beyond comparison in size. The museum didn’t house the life size sculpture due to the fact that it wasn’t large enough. Although the pieces were models he provided pictures of his installations which gave more of a perspective to the grandness of his sculptures.
Richard Friedberg is a local artist living just outside of Oneonta, NY in an old Quaker farm. The largeness of the farm allows for him to easily construct his massive sculptures. The Quaker farm however is just his summer home. During the winter he maintains a studio in New York Cities Soho. He was school at Antioch College and then Yale University. After school he moved to New York City to teach the fine arts and make sculptures.
His sculptures are at first overwhelming. By looking at the models one is filled with the sense that the piece is towering them. The pieces are also very busy so the viewer’s eye is constantly moving around the piece. Each sculpture was unique, but he used a common theme throughout his work, flowing lines and organized commotion. All of the pieces created movement and had a great amount of energy. Just by standing next to these small scale models, one would get the impression intended when they are at their full scale.
The pieces also have a majestic quality. His use of color shows grandness or even godliness. His piece, diva, uses the colors gold, white, and sliver which add to it majestic qualities. It also has golden rods shooting out from the top of the piece, almost as if they were rays of sunlight. The piece also contains a pathway. This may have been intended to be the portal to a spiritual world. These were my thoughts when first looking at the piece. Then I thought about the name of the piece, diva. That didn’t really tie in with the rest of the earlier assumptions; unless it was referring to Mary as a diva, or another higher power. This made me think that maybe it was just a diva. A long flowing dressed diva. The grandness actually complimented it just being a diva. Gold shooting from the face and the ego of a diva, thinking they are the almightily.
Richard Friedberg’s pieces evoked many thoughts. I could quite put my foot down of what any of them were intended to mean but I think that might have been what he was going for. Friedberg may have wanted the viewer to find their own meaning in his grand sculptures. I wish that I could have been about the see a life size sculpture of his because the feeling that I get just by looking at one of his models would most likely be amplified immensely.
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