the shape of things

I fell in love with this cheeky sculpture by Maurizio Vetrugno at Blum & Poe: "Lead Balloon." Lots to think about here. It's a weapon, it's a love letter, it's the wrong size, it doesn't actually work. 

The rest of the small gallery was dedicated to rather creepy needlepoint record album covers and pages of fashion magazines. Not so crazy about these. My guess was they had been created by cheap labor in another country, and I was right–the artworks were manufactured in Laos. There is no life in them.

But the boomerang–I've been thinking about it a lot since I saw it three weeks ago. I wanted to take it out of the opressive little room and place it in the bright sun and flowers of the gallery's courtyard. Maybe even free it from its spindley little stand.

"Lead Balloon" very much reminds me of Anslem Keifer's "Book with Wings," which I saw in Fort Worth a couple of years ago. Unlike the boomerang, Keifer's piece actually is made out of lead. I snuck this rather fuzzy iPhone picture while I was exploring The Modern. (Tell me again why pictures aren't allowed?) An extremely powerful piece.

And as one thought leads to another, Keifer's sculpture really reminds me of "Winged Victory of Samothrace" which my beloved aunt, Linda, took me to see at the Louvre when I was 16. Awestruck.  (And before cell phones--no pictures taken.)

Continuing to let one image conjure up another: "Levitated Mass" at moments reminds me very much of "Victory," especially as I look back on the pictures I took of opening day at LACMA. Celebration! 

I suppose "Levitated Mass" is not too far from "Lead Balloon." It's a love letter, it's out of context, it's a mixed message.