cubed: latest UK science news
Scholarships and work in the UK
Register for IELTS
Studying in the UK
Job opportunities
Other useful links
Britain in China
Visit Britain
Britannica
The construction of this new sculpture will be finished by August 2010.
Venue: Ordos City Sculpture Park, Ordos, China
www.johnatkin.net
Sculpture Journal article about John Atkin: http://online.qmags.com/SM0110/Default.aspx#pg1 (pages 50 – 53)
Statement from John Atkin
The opportunity to create a new sculpture for Ordos City Sculpture Park came about through contacts I made last year at FX Stone, Beijing. I worked with FX Stone on developing a monumental 27-ton sculpture for Olympic Park as part of the integrated cultural celebrations for the Beijing Olympics. This sculpture received wide-scale critical acclaim and is still located at the heart of Olympic Park. Whilst I was in Beijing last year I had a terrific time working the highly skilled stonemasons in order to realise the vision I had for the sculpture and it was a tremendous opportunity to work with a highly motivated workforce.
The organizers of this particular project are making an International Friendship Sculpture Park and were impressed by the artwork, Strange Meeting that I made for the Beijing Olympics, so they kindly invited me to make a new sculpture as part of their ambitious project for Ordos City. This is a great opportunity to continue my research interest in working with natural stone as a medium for my ideas. The geographical position of Ordos City and notions of trade has influenced the ideas inherent in the sculpture I am making, and fit well with the ambitions the organizers have for the sculpture park.
The Mariners Astrolabe sculpture originally came about via a series of drawings I initially made at the Shipwreck Museum, Bembridge, Isle of Wight. I was fascinated with how objects reflect our history and geographical location. Understanding Britain’s relationship to the sea is a key aspect of understanding our culture, trade, commerce and relationship to other global communities over several centuries.
Not surprisingly, my early research in led on to my interest in locating other navigational instruments in several collections as far afield as Qatar and San Francisco, as well as collections closer to home, such as, Greenwich Maritime Museum. Subsequent drawings stimulated a range of ideas for sculptures, (which Mariners Astrolabe is part of). These sculptures are realised in materials, which either reflect the geological topography of a locale, or in materials that resonate ideas to do with celebration and success. I often use a combination of materials in order to comment on a range of themes prevalent to a particular location and for this particular sculpture in Ordos City I will use two types of contrasting granite, which I think are appropriate to the locale.
My use of navigational forms speaks to many cultures and histories, as they are objects that have defined our ability to promote and establish trade routes. The use of navigation forms is also a metaphor for global communication and prosperity.
Located within strategic spaces, they become a significant landmark for a building and a signature sculpture for the commissioning agent, synonymous with the success and perceived prosperity of a business, workforce or community.
The title for this sculpture is taken from the Robert Frost poem of the same name andwritten in 1916 shortly after he moved to England from his native USA. The poem has interesting ambiguities and reflections on life, depending on if you read it in your twenties,or your fifties.
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The poem comments on notions of choice and declares that choice is inevitable, but younever know the consequences of choice until you have lived it. Interestingly, the poem speaks of a “yellow” wood, revealing that it was written in the Autumn. Yellow is a colour that represents happiness and contentment, along with hope, friendship and erseverance. In this sense, the poem is perhaps talking about notions of inspiration. My sculpture is a homage to this poem and a reflection of the choices people make in life. The use of navigational forms in my sculpture is a metaphor for direction and locale. It isabout where we are as people, both emotionally and geographically: it is also about where we see ourselves, and how we are perceived. The duality of both the poem and the sculpture are about making decisions, (humanmotivation), but also about the art of indecision.
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland)
Our privacy and copyright statements.
Our commitment to freedom of information. Double-click for pop-up dictionary.
Open the original version of this page.
Usablenet Assistive is a UsableNet product. Usablenet Assistive Main Page.