Inveterate Sculpture for Clare on view through August 1, 2014
NASHVILLE, TENN. (March 19, 2013)—Today the Frist Center for the Visual Arts installed its newest outdoor sculpture, Inveterate Composition for Clare by Brooklyn-based artist Rachel Owens. The multimedia sculpture—composed of Humvee shells, lights and an internal sound system that emits whale sounds—is stationed at the Center’s Demonbreun Street entrance; it will remain on view through August 1, 2014.
Created in 2011, Inveterate Composition for Clare has powerful political and environmental connotations. Owens dismantled two replica “kit” military Humvee shells and reassembled their parts, welding them together with additional pieces of scrap metal in a monumental quasi-cubist form. “The iconography of rebuilt military vehicles suggests the fragmentation caused by war,” says Frist Center Chief Curator Mark Scala. “Additionally, the artist’s use of extra scrap metal not only serves to create a more cohesive form, but also refers to extra armaments that American soldiers add to their own Humvees and equipment for protection in combat.”
The headlights of the reconstructed Humvees dim and brighten in accordance with the whale sounds that emanate from the work’s internal stereo. “Instead of the hip-hop or heavy metal music heard inside many military vehicles as soldiers go into combat, the haunting whale sounds create an emotional link between human conflict and environmental vulnerability,” explains Mr. Scala. Noting the sculpture’s uniform metallic white color and angular form is suggestive of an iceberg, Mr. Scala adds that the artist draws a connection between issues of global warming and the fossil fuels that lie at the heart of many Middle Eastern conflicts.
The work was developed with the support of the late Clare Weiss, curator for the New York City Parks Department, and supported by The Foundation for Contemporary Art, Brooke and Daniel Neidich, Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley, The Warner-Stanton Family, The Estate of Theo Westenberger, among others. It was first exhibited in Manhattan’s Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, across from the United Nations building.
About Rachel Owens
Rachel Owens is a Brooklyn-based contemporary multimedia artist. Born in Atlanta and raised in Missouri, Owens received her master’s of fine art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. Her work has exhibited internationally and has been reviewed widely, including in The New York Times, The New Yorker and Art in America. She is represented by ZieherSmith Gallery in New York.
Related Public Programs
Thursday, March 21 Artist’s Forum featuring Rachel Owens and Will Ryman
6:30 p.m.
Frist Center Auditorium
Free; seating is first come, first seated
Artist’s Forum is a program in which artists discuss the thoughts and processes behind their work. Participants are encouraged to come and be part of the dialogue. Will Ryman and Rachel Owens introduce the ideas behind their works currently on view on the grounds of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Ryman discusses his humorous and absurd larger than life sculptures, including Rose on 65th Street (2011) which is currently on view on the Broadway side of the Frist. Following this, Owens discusses her sculpture Inveterate Composition for Clare (2011) installed near the Demonbreun Street entrance to the Frist Center from March 2013 through August 2014. Both sculptures were created and publicly exhibited in New York City under the auspices of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
CONTACT:
Ellen Jones Pryor: 615.243.1311, ”
Maggie Carrigan: 615.744.3351, ”
