#10 — Passando
COMPOSED BY BEN ROSENBLUM & PREMIERED BY PIANIST BEN ROSENBLUM, INSPIRED BY SIMON TOPAROVSKY’S "LOS ANGELES. 3 JUNE 2020."
“Since the 80’s I have focused on narrative sculptural works with themes and nostalgic components meant to evoke empathy and connect to intuition. I am curious and excitable, so my perspectives grow and change. I have a personal vocabulary that continues to appear in different forms. I think this is about portraying the common unconscious in my own voice.
Working with wax and clay, found objects, manipulated plants and textiles, I’ve made cast bronze panels, figures and mixed media compositions which stand alone and are used as elements for site-specific installations. I’ve been commissioned to create private art gardens and large-scale public works.
Of course, these pieces can live on their own, without explanation. But, I have also imagined that there are hidden messages left to be discovered in the three- dimensionality of my cast and fabricated bronze pieces. About 10 years ago I began appropriating and staging my work for photography, then manipulating it digitally to create “captured tableaux vivants”. These layered works of art on paper are celebrations of mystery and remembrance.
The work: Los Angeles. 3 June 2020. was created to express the juxtapositions of that day—the plague, isolation, miserable politics and, still, a magnificent Los Angeles morning (like paradise). The work combines layers of elements created over many years. I used imagery of a molded life- size wax head from 30 years ago that was transformed into a broken cast bronze heart. It is weighted with fabricated bronze chains. Not all is lost! A fruiting fig tree branch emerges as hope and optimism. The sculpture floats against an exuberant sky fantasy— layered translucencies from a series of sun and cloud images, elements I am using in a new Jacquard tapestry that’s in the works.”
EXTENDED CONVERSATION
Join us for an extended conversation with Ben Rosenblum and Simon Toparovsky regarding their virtual collaboration for the "Stay-at-Home Symposium." Moderated by Artistic Director Audrey Vardanega, Ben and Simon discuss their artistic backgrounds and their collaborative process.
