Today, the “SOME PEOPLE” international community of photojournalists, investigative reporters, writers, producers, editors, creators, artists, advocates and medical professionals honor the American artist and sculptor Richard Serra. Serra died Tuesday at his home in Long Island, New York at the age 85.
In the art installation “WATER,” dancer Kristina Isabelle is featured dancing in and around his sculpture titled Reading Cones in Chicago.
Serra used large sheets of metal known as “Cor-Ten” or “weathering” steel. This material has a surface that looks rusty, but in fact resists corrosion and does not need to be painted. His works often appeared strong and soft at once, like the human body as a living organism. Some artworks appeared rigid and invasive, even aggressive, because of their weight—but vulnerability and movement also came through despite the sedentary nature of his works.
We chose the Reading Cones sculpture for this work because it is composed of two freestanding seventeen-foot-tall curved walls of Cor-Ten steel that stand just far enough apart to allow a person to walk between them. The sculpture weighs thirty-two tons.
On axis with the Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain in Grant Park, the open space between the two metal walls of the piece frames an unexpected view: it eovkes a sensation of feeling suffocated, threatened, dominated, victimized, and overwhelmed—and yet, still hopeful, at once.
In “WATER,” we examine the corrosive and suffocating distress the Commercial Health Industry has imposed on its own citizens in the United States.
In the film, Isabelle demontrates the full potential of the human body at the pinnacle of human athleticism and beauty. After being thrashed around by delayed and denied medical care, she is weakened.
She reaches for sunlight and open sky trying to escape the corrosive and overwhelming weight of Denial of Care and Harm-for-Profit in America, but fails.
First, hope; then despair; then decline and demise.
Learn more about Kristina Isabelle
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