WP3

This Sculpture which was created by Julius Schmidt and was given the name "Untitled Relief”. Schmidt who is an American sculptor born in 1923 creates many pieces like this one with used industrial material. This sculpture which was made in 1961 depicts an iron relief sculpture. A relief is a sculptured artwork where a modeled form is raised, or, in a sunken-relief, lowered, from a plane from which the main elements of the composition project; reliefs are common throughout the world, for example on the walls of monumental buildings. When viewing this sculpture there are many different aspects to consider like the context, environmental weathering, and intended audience. Since this sculpture's name is "Untitled" it leaves much room for the audience to infer about the sculptures meaning. Schmidt left this sculpture untitled so the audience could bring their own meaning to the sculpture instead of drawing the meaning from the title.

In this sculpture there are many types of context; one type of context that is very abundant is aesthetical context. It can be seen everywhere in this piece, mainly from its many shapes and dim colors. The common shapes seen in this sculpture are square or rectangles and circular/dome shapes. These shapes have almost no pattern but you are drawn into a visual hierarchy in three separate spots throughout the piece. These spots all depict a larger boxed in dome or circle that add to the sculptures abstract look. The overall aesthetical look of the sculpture depicts what looks to be a circuit board or futuristic city. I think Schmidt depicts the sculpture to look futuristic because iron is the building block of the future. "Iron is the most widely used of all the metals, accounting for 95% of worldwide metal production. Its low cost and high strength make it indispensable in engineering applications such as the construction of machinery and machine tools, automobiles, the hulls of large ships, and structural components for buildings"(Wiki). Knowing that iron is used in so much industrial buildings is probably why Schmidt created his futuristic landscape out of iron.

The fact that this sculpture is made out of iron and rest in the environment where it is exposed to the elements plays a key role in this sculpture. "Pure iron is a metal but is rarely found in this form on the surface of the earth because it oxidizes readily in the presence of oxygen and moisture"(Wiki). Well when this sculpture was presented to nature it was exposed to moisture which caused it to oxidize and create its rusted appearance we see before us today. This was not the way it looked astatically when first created by Schmidt. With this said it is apparent that the sculpting process is still at work. Schmidt who originally created this piece knew it was going to be exposed to the elements and change from its original look. There is a medium in this sculpture between it being sculpted by Schmidt, then again by nature. With this weathering occurring daily and the aesthetic changes its receiving I think ties into why the sculpture is "Untitled". This because at any given time its look can change being exposed to the elements, making no reason to title it for it was not just created by Schmidt but also nature.

When I first saw this object I felt as if it was somewhat secluded from a lot of the other art. It sits in a corner under a tree hanging from a wall. Its audience is limited because the only people who would ever see it are people passing by on their way to class or a visitor to the museum. I feel that this object being here in Nebraska in this cold winter climate would disrupt its audience because people would be less likely to view it in the cold winter. I feel though that Schmidt wanted to connect to an audience that likes abstract art work or art that likes to interpret things that do not have a set purpose. With this sculpture being on campus it is susceptible to a younger audience being that the general college student is fairly young.

When looking into this art piece it is apparent that Schmidt wanted to create a complex art sculpture that could be titled by anyone. This sculpture was made to depict iron and its use as a building tool along with its ever changing look. From the looks of it the sculpture was created to look futuristic and I think this is another reason Schmidt choose to use iron in the sculpture.

Works Cited

Wikipedia. (29 Nov 2009). Iron. Dec 7, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron

Sculpture Brochure. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. http://www.sheldonartgallery.org/photos/graphics/sculpturebrochure.pdf