The sculpture which I was assigned goes by the name of Story and was made in 1970. William King is the artist who constructed this piece, and it happens to be a resemblance of himself. “Smoking my last cigarette and yakking away. I’m talking about giving up smoking.” says King. Because of this quote, and information about the author’s life, I find that the purpose of this specific sculpture is to be a type of memorial to his accomplishment on quitting smoking, and as a life changing event. It is a great task and extremely difficult for a person to give up an addiction such as smoking, and it should be praised when accomplished. Because this sculpture can relate to those who smoke, or have smoked in the past, a sense of pathos is developed. A person suffering from an addiction may have a stronger connection to Story because they might possibly understand his actual story a little better. The materials used to make this sculpture are purely aluminum; which is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust (Wikipedia). Aluminum also posses the ability to resist corrosion and will retain its full silvery reflectance which holds the color. Not to mention it is 100% recyclable (Wikipedia). I think King used aluminum for this sculpture for all of these reasons. Also, being that aluminum is fully recyclable, it kind of relates to King’s life being recycled from him not smoking anymore. A new start.
When looking at how the body of this sculpture was put together, it resembles cardboard cut-outs. The head, torso, right arm, and object being sat on, is all one flat piece. The left arm and one leg, however, are perpendicular to the other piece. The arms and leg are given a lot of detail when it comes to the shape of the figures, but they are definitely not size proportionate. The audience can tell w
hat parts of the body are being shown, but to a certain extent. Another aspect that I want to point out is that there is a lack of facial features. I find it hard to believe that King describes his sculpture as “yakking away” and “smoking”, but there is no mouth to emphasize this happening.
Freedom of expression can also play a part in to how this sculpture is put together. First off, we have the sculpture smoking in a public place, which shows a direct source of freedom. We can also relate the one leg on the sculpture to a male’s genitals. The leg of this sculpture just happens to be positioned into the center of the piece and so on. Being able to put a sculpture into a public place while being interpreted in this way is definitely because of freedom. Lastly, the author entails that he was yakking away, meaning that he is talking about whatever he may want in a public setting as well.
Being that this sculpture was placed in this specific spot on a college campus, it sends out a message and relates to those that will be observing it. Being that we live in the United States of American, college students have the freedom of choice and use this every day. There are also a lot of people on campus who smoke, so this is also another way to relate to them.
Works Cited
Wikipedia. (December, December 4). Aluminum. Retrieved December 4, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum
Sculpture Brochure. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. http://www.sheldonartgallery.org/photos/graphics/sculpturebrochure.pdf
