Above and Below

Last updated
Above and Below
Above and Below by Maya Lin.JPG
Artist Maya Lin
Year2007 (2007)
Type Epoxy-coated aluminum tubing
Dimensions6.1 m× 30 m(20 ft× 100 ft)
Location Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana,
United States
Coordinates 39°49′33.77″N86°11′10.19″W / 39.8260472°N 86.1861639°W / 39.8260472; -86.1861639 (Above and Below by Maya Lin (2007))
OwnerIndianapolis Museum of Art

Above and Below is an installation by American artist Maya Lin, the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is on display at and owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The artwork was inspired by underground water systems in Indiana. [1] [2]

Contents

Description

At 2,000 square feet (190 m2) the sculpture hangs from the ceiling of the Museum's Fortune balcony which is accessible by the Asian Art gallery. [1] [3] It consists of different thicknesses of black painted wire aluminum tubing strewn together in a flowing-like manner as if to depict a river hanging above the viewers head. [1] [4] Above and Below is visible from the 3rd floor galleries and the 4th floor windows. [3]

Acquisition

In 1990 the IMA moved their Asian art galleries to the third floor which featured a balcony overlooking the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres. The IMA's Jane Weldon Myers Curator of Asian Art Jim Robinson sought to showcase Asian art on the balcony and immediately thought of Lin. The size of the 16 ft (4.9 m). x 100 ft (30 m) balcony caused curator and artist alike to struggle on what could be created for the space. At first Lin thought about creating an artwork for the floor of the balcony then she decided to create her installation for the ceiling which would unify the Asian Art and contemporary art galleries. [1] The sculpture was purchased with funds from William L. and Jane H. Fortune with Maya Lin overseeing the installation. [2] [3] In 2008 a new stone floor was installed on the balcony, with stones selected by Lin. [3] [5]

Design and construction

Design

Maya Lin is known for her major installation works which incorporate terrain and topography – inspirations that assisted in the creation of Above and Below. After years of struggling with the balcony space and lack of topographical landscaping in central Indiana, Lin received a suggestion from an assistant from Indiana stating that "there isn't that much above ground, but did you realize there are these incredibly long underground river systems?"

Lin decided to create an underground river system out of wire, despite telling the IMA she was creating a landscape of rubber. [1] [5] Lin and her team researched the Bluespring Caverns, the Lost River, and the White River. [1] Lin visited the Caverns and worked with U.S. Geological Survey scientists who created an ultrasound map of the tributaries for the artist. [3] [4] Lin said that "I don't think people really understand how intricate and beautiful some of these systems are." [1]

The sculpture seeks to "recreate the experience and feeling" of the underwater landscapes through use of various thickness of wire. Three-fifths of the artwork depict the Bluespring Cavern with the last two sections depicting what is beneath the water level in the cave. [1]

Construction

Above and Below was fabricated at Walla Walla Foundry in Washington utilizing the bathymetric data gathered from the river bottom and cavern ceiling. Lin's studio translated the data into a collection of contour curves and then sent them to the Foundry. The aluminum tubing was carefully bent to match the computer-generated templates created by the studio then hung within the Foundry. The artwork was then disassembled and shipped to the Indianapolis Art Museum and installed in the course of a freezing cold week on the outside balcony. [4] Lin has created other artwork installations which she describes as "drawing in space" including Where the Land Meets the Sea (2008) in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences. [5] [6]

Reception

Art historians at the IMA have described the piece as being easily placed within the minimalist and postminimalist tradition due to artists of those movements bringing landscape and nature into the gallery through exploration of environments on a larger scale. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya Lin</span> American designer and artist (born 1959)

Maya Ying Lin is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indianapolis Museum of Art</span> Art museum in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a 152-acre (62 ha) campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It is located at the corner of North Michigan Road and West 38th Street, about three miles north of downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery. There are exhibitions, classes, tours, and events, many of which change seasonally. The entire campus and organization was previously referred to as the Indianapolis Museum of Art, but in 2017 the campus and organization were renamed "Newfields" to better reflect the breadth of offerings and venues. The "Indianapolis Museum of Art" now specifically refers to the main art museum building that acts as the cornerstone of the campus, as well as the legal name of the organization doing business as Newfields.

<i>Numbers 1-0</i>

Numbers 1-0 is a public artwork by the American artist Robert Indiana, located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. This series of sculptures is composed of 10 brightly painted numerical digits, each made of aluminum and set on its own base. Their construction took place at the former Lippincott Foundry in North Haven, Connecticut from 1980 to 1983.

<i>Mega-Gem</i>

Mega-Gem is an outdoor sculpture by American artist John Francis Torreano. It is located on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, and is owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The oversized sculpture, made of aluminum, is shaped like a round-cut diamond resting on one its facets and studded with 36 smaller, colored-metal rosettes.

<i>Snowplow</i> (di Suvero)

Snowplow is an abstract outdoor sculpture by American artist Mark di Suvero located on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The sculpture was purchased in 1975 by the Indianapolis Sesquicentennial Commission and first installed in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1977.

<i>Weather Tower</i>

Weather Tower, a public sculpture by American artist Jerald Jacquard, is located on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The sculpture is located off White River Parkway East Drive in a plaza near IUPUI campus housing. Jacquard created this 20.5-foot-tall (6.2 m) painted steel sculpture in 1985. It was acquired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1999, where it stood at the front entrance until de-accessioned and moved to IUPUI's campus in 2005.

Gary Freeman (1937–2014), is an American sculptor from Indianapolis, Indiana. He is Professor Emeritus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and served as head of the Herron School of Art Sculpture Department for 33 years, from 1968 until his retirement in 2001.

<i>Temple VI</i>

Temple VI, a public sculpture by American artist Austin Collins, is located on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The piece is on an indefinite loan from the artist to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and is located outside of the east entrance to Lecture Hall, a building on IUPUI's campus. Lecture Hall, nicknamed LE on campus maps, is located at 325 University Boulevard in Indianapolis, Indiana in the United States. The sculpture was created in 1996.

E Pluribus Unum is a public artwork proposed by American artist Fred Wilson to be located along the Indianapolis Cultural Trail at the northeast corner of Delaware and Washington streets, near the City-County Building in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

<i>Two Figures</i>

Two Figures is a bronze sculpture by the English sculptor Barbara Hepworth, which was cast in an edition of seven copies. One of these is located at Newfields, the campus that also houses the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. Other casts are at Southampton University, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, Commonwealth Park in Canberra Australia, and the Hakone Open-Air Museum, Hakone, Japan. The series were cast at the Morris Singer Foundry in London from 1968 onwards. Another cast of this work could also be found at the University of Birmingham Vale site, but is no longer present as of January 2, 2012.

<i>Nymph and Fawn</i>

Nymph and Fawn is a public artwork by American artist Isidore Konti and located within the Oldfields–Lilly House & Gardens estate on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), near Indianapolis, Indiana. Created in 1917, the bronze sculpture is also a working fountain. It portrays a female nude pouring water from an urn while standing beside a small fawn.

<i>Love</i> (Indianapolis)

LOVE is an artwork by American pop artist Robert Indiana (1928–2018), located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It was created in 1970 as the first sculptural form of the artist's 1965 LOVE painting and has been on continuous exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art since it was acquired in 1975.

<i>Bench Around the Lake</i>

Bench Around the Lake is a public artwork by Danish artist Jeppe Hein, located in the 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The artwork consists of fifteen individually designed yellow interactive bench installations strategically placed throughout the park location. Some of the benches consist of multiple components or sections within one site.

<i>Hotel Lobby</i> Painting by Edward Hopper

Hotel Lobby is a 1943 oil painting on canvas by American realist painter Edward Hopper; it is held in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

<i>Stratum Pier</i> Large outdoor artwork in Indiana, U.S.

Stratum Pier is an interactive overlook by American artist Kendall Buster. The functional sculpture is located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art's 100 Acres: Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park.

<i>Mother and Child</i> (Gordine)

Mother and Child is a public artwork by the Estonian-British artist Dora Gordine, located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The cast bronze artwork was created in 1964 and portrays a woman kneeling beside a small child, both figures displaying joyful poses and expressions.

La Hermana del Hombre Bóveda is a public artwork by Spanish artist Pablo Serrano, located at Newfields, the museum campus that houses the Indianapolis Museum of Art near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The artwork is an abstract bronze piece which tops a granite fountain.

<i>The Three Graces</i> (Indianapolis) Sculpture by an unknown artist

The Three Graces is a nearly life-size, figurative Carrara marble outdoor sculpture group located on the historic Oldfields estate on the campus of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), in Indianapolis, Indiana. The neoclassical marble sculpture depicts the Three Graces, minor goddesses of the Greco-Roman pantheon. The group consists of three women frontally oriented, standing in a row upon a base. The sculpture is modeled after a c. 1797 sculpture by Antonio Canova.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres</span> Public art park in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, also referred to as the 100 Acres or Fairbanks Park, is a public interactive art park located on the Newfields campus in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

<i>Team Building (Align)</i>

Team Building (Align) is a public artwork by American artist collective Type A, located on the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It was commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art for their 100 Acres Park sculpture garden, which opened in 2010. It consists of two 30' aluminum rings suspending in midair, aligned such that their shadows merge at noon on the summer solstice.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Maya Lin: Above and Below. ArtBabble. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  2. 1 2 Indianapolis Museum of Art (2010). "Above and Below". Collections. Indianapolis Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Christopher Lloyd (2007). "Maya Lin sculpture installed at IMA". Indy.com. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 "Above and Below". Portfolio. Walla Walla Foundry. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 David Hoppe (2007). "Drawing in space". News. Nuvo Newsweekly. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  6. ↑ Stephen West (2008). "Maya Lin's Sculpture Floats Like Wiry Cloud, Maps San Francisco". News. Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.