A Conversation with Chicago: Contemporary Sculpture From China

A Conversation with Chicago: Contemporary Sculpture From China ..
Four large-scale sculptures by four leading Chinese sculptors and installation artists in Millennium Park this spring..
A temporary exhibit from, Apr 9, 2009-to-Oct 10, 2010 ..
Location: Boeing Galleries [North and South galleries]...
North Gallery: A piece by Shen Shaomin [“Kowtow Pump”] ...
South Gallery: feature works by Chen Wenling ["Valiant Struggle"] Sui Jianguo ["Windy City 2009"] and Zhan Wang ["Jia Shan Shi No.46"] ...

An excerpt from the City of Chicago's Official Tourism Site ..
"Coming from different regions and educational backgrounds, the artists each employ different materials and visual styles, but they also show commonalities. Each work is intensely engaged with important contemporary issues such as the energy crisis, materialism, and globalization. They also share inspiration from traditional Chinese art, commercial culture, folk art, and industrial machinery as they explore ways to react to a public space."




Windy City 2009 ..
Sculptor: Sui Jianguo ..
Location: South Boeing Gallery, Millennium Park ..
The big red hollow dinosaur is a magnified versions of the plastic toys, although in shape and size the artist has been faithful to the T-Rex. However a huge of “Made in China” is carved on the midsection of the dinosaur making it easily noticiable and alluding to the increasing share of Chinese toys, or is it something more deeper; an allusion to the old Chinese civilization in the modern context, which raises more questions than it answers ...






Valiant Struggle No 11..
Sculptor: Chen Wenling ..
Location: South Boeing Gallery, Millennium Park ..
It features a red toy car with a dragon’s face painted in red & gold. The dragon’s red tongue extends like a nozzle, on which are three suspended figures, a pig, a fat man who is very precariously holding the pig, and a fat woman who is tenuously clinging to the man. The scene is funny or rather a satire - a social commentary on greed and consumerism ..


Jia Shan Shi No. 46 ...
Sculptor: Zhan Wang ..
Location: South Boeing Gallery, Millennium Park ..
It reminds of the Chinese symbol of knowledge, the Scholar’s Rock ... But it's made of stainless steel ... Again it's a viewers discretion to find beauty in it or to dismiss it as a piece of metal scrap ...




Kowtow Pump ...
Sculptor: Shen Shaomin ..
Location: North Boeing Gallery, Millennium Park ..

A mock-oil derrick seems ready to pump ... a commentary of our dependence on oil .. and it's impact on enviornment ...

Apart from the individual merit of each piece, what I find equally intriguing is the name chosen for the exhibit "Conversation with China" ... which draws us to a deeper meaning of these contemporary sculptures ... inviting us for an open dialogue on enviornment, consumerism, trade, culture and art ..

Contemporary Sculptures from China is presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Millennium Park, in cooperation with Millennium Park Inc., and is sponsored by The Boeing Company with support from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. The exhibition is curated by Wu Hung, University of Chicago Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History and a Consulting Curator for the Smart Museum of Art, and by Millennium Park staff.

Museum Campus - Public Art..

The Museum Campus ...
Chicago's Museum Campus connects three world-class museums ..
[I] The Field Museum of Natural History,
[II] The John G.Shedd Aquarium and Oceanarium, and ..
[III] The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum ...
making it the largest museum campus in the world ... spread over an area of 57-acre .. The Museum Campus opened in 1998 when the the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive were moved west of Soldier Field following the route of the expressway's southbound lanes. By removing the roadway which bisected the area, the Museum Campus was transformed into a green space ... amd made extremely pedestrian friendly with jogging paths and walkways ...

Each of these museums are treasure trove of information and extremely popular among the residents as well as the tourists ... But here I am trying to enlist the Public Art in the campus..


[I] The Field Museum of Natural History ...
It originally opened in 1893 as the Columbian Museum of Chicago .. In 1905, the museum's name was changed to Field Museum of Natural History to honor the museum's first major benefactor, Marshall Field. . In 1921, the museum moved from its original location to its present site on Chicago Park District property near downtown, where it is part of the lakefront Museum Campus ...

Public Art in the Field Museum Campus are:
# Replica of colossal Olmec Head #8 ... click here ...
# Big Beaver totem .. click here ...
# What you see ... click here ..



# Replica of colossal Olmec Head #8 ...
Head of Veracruz leader, Ignacio Perez Solano..
Description: Stone, H 7 ft. 3 in, 1700 pound ..
Location: The Field Museum lawn ..

For more on the ... Olmec Head .. click here ...



# Big Beaver Totem ..
Carver: Norman Tait ..
Installed: 1982...
Big Beaver is a contemporary totem pole in the traditional mode, commissioned to commemorate the opening of The Field Museum’s hall of Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples.

For more on the totem "Big Beaver".. click here ...



# What you see ...
For more images .. click here ...



[II] The John G.Shedd Aquarium and Oceanarium ..
This indoor public aquarium opened on May 30, 1930. It is one of the largest indoor aquarium in the world with 5,000,000 US gallons (19,000,000 l) of water. The Shedd Aquarium was the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater fish collection ..



# Man with Fish ...
I'm not sure what it's called and have no further information on this sculpture ...


[III] The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum ...
Public Art in the Planetarium Campus includes:
# Sundial "Man Enters the Cosmos" .. click here ..
# Monument of Nicholas Copernicus .. click here ..
# America's Courtyard ... click here ..



# Sundial ... Man Enters the Cosmos ..
Sculptor: Sir Henry Moore
Installed: 1980
Description: Bronze, H 13 ft.
Location: Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Entry Plaza Solidarity (Achsah Bond) Dr .. Museum Campus ...

For more on the "Sundial" .. click here ...



# Monument of Nicholas Copernicus ...
Sculptor: Bertel Thorvaldsen ..
Installed: 1973
Description: Bronze, H 8.5 ft.
Gift of the Copernicus Foundation and the Polish-American Congress to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Copernicus ..
Location: Solidarity (Achsah Bond) Dr. ... Museum Campus ..

For more on the "Monument of Nicholas Copernicus" .. click here ...



# America's Courtyard ...
Artist: Denise Milan and Ary Perez
Description: granite and marble block installation,
56 pieces granite and 4 pieces marble ...
Location: Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum ..

For more on America's Courtyard ... click here ..


The museum campus is a great place to be, even if one doesnt visit any of the museums ... It has beautiful skyline view ... and many interesting sculptures like:
# Three forms for Chicago ... click here ...
# Monuments on the Solidaity Drive ...
# Children's Garden..



# Spheres Turn, Pyramids Rise, Cubes Stay Still ..
Three forms for Chicago ...
Artist: David Nash ..
Loan of the artist to the City of Chicago Public Art Collection ..
Installed: 2000
Location: Museum Campus, northwest side near Lake Shoredrive ...

For more on Three Forms for Chicago .. click here ...



# Monuments on the Solidarity Drive ...
Sculptures of Nicolaus Copernicus, Karel Havlicek and Thaddeus Kosciuzsko on the Solidarity Drive ...

For more on Solidarity Drive monuments .. click here ...



# Children's Garden ...
Just south of the Field Museum is this Children's park with features like ... Water Earth, Rock Earth, Climbing Earth and Geography Earth ..

For more of Children's Garden .. click here ...



# Balbo Munument ...
Balbo was a fascist and the monument was a gift from Mussolini to the people of Chicago for their generosity in naming a street in honor of Balbo after the 1933 worlds fair held at Chicago.

For more on the Bablbo Munument ... click here ...



# The Gold Star Families Memorial and Park ...
is located along Lake Michigan on the east side of Soldier Field. It is nearly five acres extending from McFetridge Drive on the North to Waldron Drive on the South. The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation ensured that the design of the park would be as exceptional as the men and women it honors ..

For more on the Gold Star Families Memorial and Park ... click here ...

Museum Campus: Adler Planetarium [Spiral Galaxy, A Work in Progress - by John David Mooney]

Spiral Galaxy, A Work in progress..
By John David Mooney
1998.. originally at Pie Walk, 1998..
Location: Adler Planetarium, Museum Campus..

Museum Campus: Adler Planetarium [Sundial "Man Enters the Cosmos" - by Henry Moore]

Sundial "Man Enters the Cosmos"
Sculptor: Sir Henry Moore ..
Installed: 1980..
Description: Bronze, H 13 ft.
Location: Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Entry Plaza Solidarity (Achsah Bond) Dr., Museum Campus ...
Commissioned by the B.F. Ferguson Monument Fund, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Copernicus..

Sir Henry Moore’s sundial is both functional and visually appropriate to its location in front of the Adler Planetarium. A thin rod of bronze, supported by two intersecting bronze semicircles, marks the time of day by casting a shadow on the ground. The semicircular elements, joined at right angles and bisected by the rod, evoke the form of a hemisphere tilted on its axis. The sculpture’s golden patina and the subtitle, Man Enters the Cosmos, refer to the great expansion of human knowledge of the universe that occurred during the “golden years of astronomy,” 1930 – 80.




As it's located at a beautiful spot, with Chicago skyline in the background, it's a favourite spot for photography ...

Museum Campus: Adler Planetarium Plaza [America's Courtyard - by Denise Milan and Ary Perez]

America's Courtyard ...
Artist: Denise Milan and Ary Perez
Description: granite and marble block installation,
56 pieces granite and 4 pieces marble ...
Location: Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum
1300 S Lake Shore Drive Museum Campus ..
City of Chicago Public Art Collection ..





The plaque reads ...
" America's Courtyard
A Symbolic Intergration of the Americans
by Denise Milan and Ary Perez
Appropiate to its location adjacent to the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, this sculpture embodies the spiral shape of the galaxies, while being reminiscent of ancient observatories.
At it's center, the thin spaces between between the four stones align with the north-south and east-west compass points.
Leading away from these four center stones are four open avenues through the spiral of stones. These avenues aim to the skyline where the sun rises and sets at the June and December solstices.
Any clear morning or evening during the year, park visitors may check the progress of the seasons by seeing where the sun rises or sets between these two extremes."



Composed of stone blocks of various colors and origins America's Courtyard is a tribute to ethnic diversity in America. The installation was designed to be modular, allowing the sculpture to be reorganized in relation to its surrounding. The arena was stones was originally located near the Art Institute of Chicago but was later moved to a permanent location on the lawn of the Adler Planetarium. here the sculpture was reconfigured to resemble a spiral-shaped galaxy. Artists Amy Perez and Denise Milan worked in conjucture with Adler archeoastronomer Phyllis Pitluga to orient the sculpture to mark the sun's passage through seasonal euqinoxes. The foiur pathways from the center of the piece correspond to the points on the horizon where the sun reaches its northernmost and southernmost settings on the solstices.

For more on Grant Park ..
# Public Art in the Grant Park .. click here ....
# Gardens in the Grant Park .. click here ..
# Often overlooked but remarkable features like pedestrian crossings, the railway lines underneath, the street lamp posts, balustrade, corbels, the Y-symbols .. click here ..
# For a brief history of Grant Park .. click here ..