Real Ice

Anytime I see anything about ice in art I can't resist. Guilty pleasure? hardly. Aside from the cringe-fest of ice sculptures often found at weddings in Brighton Beach reception halls, there are studios creating complex works in this medium side-by-side with providing clients with crafted items surrounding special events. Okamoto Studio, taking themselves quite seriously, have a handsome website--complete with a video--detailing their philosophy and mission, as well as showing off the work they've done for a list of pricey clients. Far more impressive is their artwork, like the conceptual piece above, a lovely crystal bicycle glowing on the streets of NYC. One of a pregnant woman is on their website.

Another discussion. Remembering when I photographed the many, many pieces of ice for SIS. One was a chunk of ice I'd made in the freezer. Big deal. But, it photographed well and appeared to be much bigger than it really was, though I didn't select is as part of the nine. Another was--I like the "was"--a frosted-over kitchen window I discovered one morning as dawn was breaking. The 4x5 was always set up at that time, so I dashed to get some diffuser on the outside of the window and came up with Ice 2.

During that same winter, I came across a piece of ice that had separated from the curb. Dirt and grime imbedded in it, I hauled it upstairs, back lit it, and shot it so quickly I didn't notice that the top edge of the ice was in the image, a wonderful, unexpected mistake, creating Ice 1.

Olafur Elaiasson's installation at PS1 MoMA is a story all its own. The highly prolific Icelandic artist's work is quite at home in New York where it was prominently featured at MoMA and PS1 in 2008, his

waterfalls along the East River also in 2008, and currently, the exhibition of "Your Waste of Time" at Expo1: New York at PS1 in Long Island City. The installation consists of pieces of ice from a glacier in his native Iceland, presumably 800 years old. Global environmental issues are a recurring theme in his work, as he makes use of Iceland's seismically active landscape as inspiration and subject matter, photographing glaciers, sink holes, volcano explosions and floods. His work then evolves into experiential spectacles that have been exhibited internationally.

As for "Your Waste of Time", friends both in and outside the art world have issues with Mr. Elaiasson's piece: is it art?  Is it authentic? NYT editor Ken Johnson reported at the show's opening: "I couldn't help wondering: how much power does it take to keep the room so cold? A wall label explains that the cooling machinery is powered by solar panels temporarily installaed on PS1's roof. Still, what's the project's carbon footprint? Does raising awareness of a phenomenon that most viewers already know of make it worth the energy drain? Whose time is being wasted?"

My thoughts extend from there: Isn't this environmental theft?

The memory banks immediately circuit to Andy Goldsworthy, the master of environmental works. Using only his hands in making works in the naturally occurring landscape, he lovingly crafts sculptures from sorting, placing and layering the materials available at the sculpture's location. The beautiful stele at the left was carved from a piece of ice with a stone. The conduit of glowing ice circling a tree are icicles melted together by some water and the warmth of Goldsworthy's fingers.

The 90-minute documentary of his work, Rivers and Tides is available on iTunes and BlueRay. It is on YouTube as well, but the resolution isn't great so below is the two-minute trailer. About a minute in, the artist's fingers are shown melting the icicles to create the tree spiral.

A contributing factor to the magic of his work is the crisp photography, which captures the fleeting moments of true sight-specific work.

Unexpectedly, using ice as part of artists' discourse on environmental ravage enters the conversation in other art pubs. SIS, being about memory recall, couldn't be farther from that discourse.

Further reading:
http://www.icefantasies.com
http://www.okamotostudionyc.com
http://www.olafureliasson.net
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/olafur_eliasson/index.html