in touch Intercontinental Sculpture

Shields and horns are means for protection.
They offer a place of security, but
they make you mobile, too, as they become
extensions of the self.
The Shield is freestanding, unlike those
that lean against a block of material, a
column or part of an edifice. It turns on
the custom hardware, not easily, but with
some low torque when pushed by hand.
The surface is rough, like broken skin,
revealing a pattern of the mechanical
movement that carved its very being out
of this large block of marble. Up close I
can engage with the surface as a soft entity,
stepping away its circumference is a
large embrace. The measure of woman as
I spread my wings.
I have been pondering the
meaning of art and am hoping that in
post pandemic times there will be
a need for work that taps into
humanist values, work that is not
reactionary but has optimism radiating
from within.
(Vanessa Paschakarnis)
I do engage with Bestia Umana in a very
similar way. This new horned creature is
standing high and its smoothly finished
head is pulling out of a tall, grey block of
marble.
I would like you to look with your
knees, feel with your eyes
and see with your elbows.
Sculpture is a catalyst for all our
senses and it exists in order
to question who we are next to it.
(Vanessa Paschakarnis)
The horns lift up like arms in a creamy rose
coloured marble with salmon coloured
tips. You don’t know how far you can fly
if you don’t spread your wings. This new
horned being is alive and stoic in the presence
with the horns rising like arms, like
wings, but halting, resting, before daring
to take off.
Both sculptures are a metaphor for the human
spirit as a wild young thing that needs
to be protected and tamed.
Detail of Bestia Romana, 2009;
Travertine, Statuario Marble,
96cm x 100cm x 183cm;
The object based sculpture by Vanessa
Paschakarnis seeks to confront the viewer
literally on a one to one level, physically
responding to our platform for action and
the viewer becomes the other, feeling her
way through a new surrounding full of
positive potential. Feeling grounded. vip
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