Introduction to the Studio: April 2014

Thursday, April 17, 2014

This piece entitled, Circumscription, was made out of marble in 1976 by Rad Collier Acton. It is a round structure where it looks as though pieces have been cut from a sphere or as if two pieces were linked together. However, it is one continuous piece of marble with no breaks or stops. It loops around itself about three times, and the outer lines curve while the inner lines remain relatively angled. The looping of the marble piece creates missing chunks, but the contours of the structure do not take away from the spherical shape of the piece. The texture of the outer spherical layer compared to the inner texture of the piece, incorporates scratches to create a more rough texture than the inner smooth polished feel of the marble. The color of the structure is light grey and is patterned with specks that are a darker grey-blue color. It sits on a small post of the same light grey marble, but is also mounted on a darker gray, almost black marble stand. The two different values of grey create a sharp contrast and make the eye focus on the main subject of the piece, the light-grey sphere. The way a once heavy, non-malleable marble material is knotted into itself to form a spherical structure encourages the eye to move around the whole structure. However, the sculpture is placed by the Roberts Theatre entrance and by the Bucksbaum office, behind the left crevice of the theatre entrance, where it makes it difficult for those passing to fully digest the piece.