John T. Riddler Jr.

Visited the de Young Museum in San Francisco CA last week to Check out the Soul of a Nation exhibition. I will be posting much more on this exhibition but to start off I will talk about John T. Riddlers, Gradual Troop Withdrawal. 

One of many great works but the one that I can relate the most with being a sculpture in this particular medium. This figure composed of scrap metal takes the shape of a headless body being blown away. It creates a very dynamic pose as the viewer can feel the motion of the figure as well as the impact of this unknown force that creates the body to be blown away. The use of metal is very precise as it is not the most pristine craft, with exposed welds and loose ends. This choice of aesthetic creates a much more gruesome feel to the sculpture as these bits of metal begin to feel more like human flesh. My fascination with this particular piece has to do with the pose of the figure, the shadow it creates and the artist's approach to the base of the sculpture. Each of these aspects create an overall very visually attractive work. Since they can be observed and appreciated independently but cohesively work so well together.

Student show at the Witt Gallery, in California State University Sacramento

Ceramics student Grace Tuthill shows her work in the Witt gallery here in Sac State. She has created very organic forms ranging in size. The forms seem to maintain a very clean and curvy shape. She manages to push her medium to its limits as ceramics can be very tricky to work with at times. In some of her larger works, we can see this as all it takes is a small understanding of ceramics to be impressed by how these intricate shapes have been created.

Although most of these shapes maintain a very organic almost microbial or cellular feel to them, others may be reminded of corals and the abstract shape of some marine life. Her forms connect through their shape but some of them vary drastically in their texture. As she explores different firing methods, her forms take on dramatically different colors and textures. Some of which include sea shells engraved or rather fused onto the clay body. I find this to be one of the more successful shows of the year this far. The artist took into consideration everything from the space around her to the shape of the gallery and managed to fill the space with an excellent body of work. As well as creating interactive work by allowing visitors to grab, feel and place the smaller pieces in the sand that was laid out for them. On top of all that even the food was yummy and healthy, and it was made to look like the artist's work.