The United States on Thursday returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest.
The repatriated items include two sculptures dating to the 4th century B.C. from the ancient city of Cyrene.
One, named the “Veiled Head of a Female,” was previously in the hands of a private collector of other illegal artifacts, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Libya. The other, also a Hellenic bust, had been at the Metropolitan Museum of New York since 1998, the statement said. Both were displayed by Libyan antiquities officials at a reception ceremony in the country’s capital, Tripoli. Read more.
I have been slowly building this piece for a while now. It is one of my most intricate pieces on this scale and I am really excited about how it turned out. As you can see, it is a tiny Victorian library in which I have added a great amount of fine detail, including an armillary sphere, a telescope, a sextant, hand-painted paintings, globes and books and much more. I have used tiny watch parts in building many of these details. It is closed with a piece of glass which I have cut and ground down to size from an incandescent lamp, giving a clarity and curvature unusual for pocket watch crystals. Enjoy!
Cristian Marianciuc transforms mere pieces of paper into extraordinary sculptures and in his 1000 days of challenge, he flaunts his craftsmanship by composing paper cranes.
Dan play a bit in the dark with Kozy’s sculptures for new new exhibition, “Growing Into Roots”, before we delivered them to GR2 Gallery. Super fun to imagine the world her bunny primitive sculptures live in - their social structures, their recreation, their rituals, all the oddities, as well as parallels to our own world.
I think we have some similar ideas about the world the characters inhabit, and what they are like, but we don’t discuss it between us too much - the sculptures just exist in our own personal worlds, and we expect each viewer of the exhibition will fill out their own version of the bunny primitive world.
Some of these one-of-a-kind, hand built ceramic sculptures are still available for purchase HERE on Giant Robot’s web store.
New Yorkers are known to be jaded. We can pass by something over and over and over again and not even know what it is and why it’s there.
This bright red painted steel of Isamu Noguchi’s Red Cube stands out in strong contrast to the blacks, browns, and whites of the buildings and sidewalks around the sculpture. Located in Financial district, Red Cube is surrounded on three sides by skyscrapers, the height of which draw a viewer’s eye upwards. The sculpture itself adds to this upward pull, as it balances on one corner, the opposite corner reaching towards the sky.
Through the center of the cube there is a cylindrical hole, revealing an inner surface of gray with evenly-spaced lines moving from one opening of the hole to the other. Looking through this hole, the viewer’s gaze is directed towards the building behind, tying the sculpture and the architecture together.
Although Noguchi began his sculpting career creating individual pieces, he spent a number of years in the 1940s and 50s working primarily on designing spaces, such as gardens and plazas.
Born in Los Angeles in 1904, Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and industrial designer who is regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most important sculptors. However, then, the son of Yone Noguchi, a Japanese poet, and Léonie Gilmour, an American writer who edited much of Noguchi’s work, wasn’t recognized as a sculptor for a while. Abandoned by his father at the age of one, he grew up with his mother.
He was discouraged by friends and mentors from pursuing art. He later decided to pursue sculpture and apprenticed with artists around the world. None of his early works gained him any recognition or provided financial support for a while. But he did manage to meet Frida Kahlo and have a brief affair with her.
His first attempts at the Public Works of Art Program proved unsuccessful, as one after another of his submissions were declined. Red Cube was finally accepted in 1968.
It is also said that the the sculpture represents a die, a roll of chance. #redcube #isamunoguchi #sculpture #sculptureart #sculptures #nyc #newyorkcity #newyork #history #funfacts (at HSBC Bank) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMVwzkFj_si/?igshid=1ilckwv3e29nk
