Stephen Skory

One of the most photographed member of the Stuart Collection is the lead-enacased tree in front of the main library on campus. There are two other trees part of the installation which are hidden inside of a eucalyptus grove southwest of this tree. Together, they are part of the Trees by Terry Allen which were installed in 1986. Apparently the trees encased in lead were salvaged by the artist from a group of eucalyptus trees that were cut down for a new building on campus. The two trees that I didn’t take pictures of play music and speak poetry. But that would be hard to photograph, wouldn’t it?

This is an excellent kind of art in my opinion. It’s not too dense and obscure but isn’t too simple. The tree forces the viewer to look up from a distance to take in the whole thing. Up close there are other things to see, too. Of course all the Stuart collection items are meant to be touched, but this one perhaps more than others. The soft lead is very easy to make an impression upon, giving everyone input to the art.

Go to my Stuart Collection Gallery or the Trees Photo Gallery.

The most recent addition to the Stuart Collection is Bear (2005) by Tim Hawkinson. The bear is made up of 8 large boulders weighing 180 tons altogether. It sits in a courtyard in the engineering school with several new and highly angular buildings. If you read the description in the link above the artist was fully aware of the contradiction of a stone teddy bear between high tech buildings.

I very much like this part of the collection. I’ve been eagerly awaiting it’s completion since I heard about it. I always like it when art requires a massive effort, and moving a 100 ton boulder (which is what the body stone weighs) is massive. The bear does seem cuddly, like you could pick it up and take a nap with it. But of course you can’t. I also like bigger than life art, which is a fairly popular category in cities around the world.

Go to my Stuart Collection Gallery or the Bear Photo Gallery.

Green Table by Jenny Holzer (1992) is a large rectangular table with dozens of “truisms” etched into the granite. I like this peice of art because it’s something I think I could do.

I like that not only can you use the table as you would any other, you can perhaps gain some small nuggets of wisdom. However, some of the truisms are sexist towards men, and others just plain wrong, in my opinion. But I guess that’s the point – these are not truisms. Some are common sense, others are simply cleverly-worded opinion. Truisms on the table contradict other truisms. Read the list linked above and see for yourself.

Go to my Stuart Collection Gallery or the Green Table Photo Gallery.

UCSD is home to a very unique art collection, the Stuart Collection. As of November, 2005 there are sixteen items in the collection scattered over the entire campus. As a way to practice using my new camera I’ll be taking photos of all the items and posting them on this website.

My first posting is of Standing by Kiki Smith (1998). Personally, I think it’s a disturbing statue/fountian. The water running from her hands and the nails sticking out of her body aren’t a pleasant thing. Although the starfish nails are supposedly placed in the shape of the constellation Virgo, it’s hard to tell when you’re looking up at it. Also, the hands have rusted a dark red color, something like dried blood.

Go to my Stuart Collection Gallery or the Standing Photo Gallery.