A people without a knowledge of their past history is like a tree without roots.- Marcus Garvey
Can Art hold the knowledge?
Simni Dirdro (Twisted Chimney), Brian Tolle
The brick smokestacks of the 19th century were architectural marvels. The best of them were sculptures in their own right. Modeled after one of the fallen giants, the sculpture rises from a hillside in South Wales. Unlike the towers of old that pointed to the sky pumping smoke and other pollutants into the atmosphere, the stack twists and turns downward, plunging back into the ground. This turning of the head of the chimney refers to modern technologies designed to stop global warming by pumping CO2 back into the earth. By reconnecting the stack with the ground, a fantastical gateway is formed. The arch [is] tall enough to allow pedestrians and cyclists to pass under it. The mouth of the stack reemerges from the ground a short distance away. Where once there had been smoke, there is a garden pointing toward the green past and future of Wales. (briancny)
See
At the center of the Industrial Revolution, the landscape in South Wales looked completely different two hundred years ago. Notice the forest-like collection of smokestacks covering the landscapes in these paintings representing the 1800’s.
Industrial Landscape by Glen Williams
WALDEN, Lionel (1862–1933) Steel Works, Cardiff at Night, c.1893–7
South Wales Industrial Landscape, Penry Williams, c.1825.
The industrial landscape is all but erased in this current picture of Rhymney, South Wales.
Say
Why are artists continually inspired by the land?
What role does art have in reminding us of our past? Is it an effective teaching tool?
Do you feel that Twisted Chimney might hold a message of hope? If so, how would you describe it?
Do
Compare and contrast the landscape in South Wales in the pictures above.
Curious about art and historical context? Check out Tolle’s portfolio.
Watch the process of construction on Twisted Chimney.
About the Artist: Brian Tolle
Brian Tolle's sculptures and installations emphasize a formal and iconographic dialog with history and context. Architecture, site, and technology are recurring themes. Using a variety of media, his work draws from the scale and experience of its surroundings, provoking a re-reading by cross-wiring reality and fiction. Drawing ideas from a broad-based conceptual analysis, Tolle blurs the border between the contemporary and the historical. His approach involves in-depth research, which is then distilled and directed, creating an intuitive personal response.
His public works include Irish Hunger Memorial, Battery Park City, NYC, NY, a one-half acre sculpture on the Hudson River. Other notable public works include: Pageant, New York, NY, 2017, Outflow, Calgary, AB, Canada, 2015, Origin, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2014, Simnai Dirdro (Twisted Chimney), Rhymney, Wales, UK, 2010, Remembering Walter H. Dubner, Los Angeles, CA, 2010, Tempest, 2010 recently installed at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2018, and Stronghold, the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2007
Brian Tolle's work has been exhibited in the Whitney Biennial, Liverpool Biennial at the Tate Modern, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Belgium, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; the Queens Museum of Art, New York, Havana Biennial, Cuba, the Invitational Exhibition at the American Academy of Arts and numerous other institutions. He is the recipient of awards from the Irish American Historical Society, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, and the Design Commission of the City of New York.
Brian Tolle received his BA in Political Science from SUNY at Albany, NY, a BFA from Parsons the New School for Design, NY, and an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Brian Tolle was born in New York in 1964; he lives in Fleischmanns, NY and works in Roxbury, NY.
http://www.briantollestudio.com/
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