Pathless Woods: Sculpture Analysis

Sculptures come in many shapes, types, and forms due to not only the many different mediums that can be used, but also due to the ever-evolving nature of what constitutes as a sculpture and the materials that can be used to create sculptures. The two sculptures from the Ringling that I chose were The Pathless Woods, an interactive exhibit created by Anne Patterson, and Bodhisattva of Compassion created by Quan Am out of wood. The Pathless Woods created an experience of an installation piece, included different principals of design which allowed the context of the piece to be developed, while Bodhisattva of Compassion was a high relief sculpture that also included principals of design that aided in showing the religious nature of the piece …show more content…
The piece is three-dimensional; however, it is not a sculpture in the round as it is only meant to be seen from the front. The piece was created through a subtractive process, wherein the artist carved away the wood to create the relief. The difficulty of using wood is that it is easiest to carve towards its grain, and going against the grain could potentially destroy the block of wood the artist is working on. This piece is also considered to be high relief, as it projects at least half its depth out from the wood. It is intricately detailed as well, which shows the artists skill with the medium of wood, as the piece features many intertwining vines and various people on the top and bottom of the piece. Bodhisattva of Compassion is a detailed, calculated work that probably took the artist excessive time and effort to create. I do not exactly know what the artist would have used, being as it was 18th century Vietnam and I am unsure as to what the tools used to carve wood are in the first place. Knowing this does make me curious as to if they would have different types of tools that they used rather than their European or American counterparts. This piece is representational, but not figurative, as it shows realistic figures, but not real life situations and people as it is a religious …show more content…
I was also extremely interested in a piece in the modern Asian art exhibit that was called Pink Gummy Bear, as well as some of the photos within the Senses temporary exhibit, which I could not do because pictures were not allowed there. The other exhibits were not particularly my cup of tea, as I am not a particular fan of portraits and that was the primary form of art featured there, but the museum was otherwise fantastic. I have never been to an art museum that large before, and the architecture of the building itself was