Jun26

they are us.

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                                                                                   “Soul” by Ugo Rondinone, 2013 ​
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​“Stick-to-itiveness” is now included in the dictionary. It’s about perseverance — whether we’re born with it or learn it. It’s about continuing to show up and doing what matters, even when you don’t feel like it, and especially when the world is yelling that you don’t matter, that you’re crazy, that who you think you are and what you have to say doesn’t matter. I’ve been thinking a lot about what matters and why I care so much when someone feels what I think doesn’t matter. Why do we keep having to learn, again and again, that we get to choose what we care about? Today, as I listened to Erin Brockovich tell her story, I was reminded that thinking differently is beautiful, and whatever we think, feel, and care about is valid and matters. It is our responsibility to amplify what we care about. There is no special reward for conformity of thought or action, but there is an internal reward for expressing the uniqueness of who we are.
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Ugo Rondinone made a series of stone figures in a variety of sizes for his exhibition Soul in 2013. Each one is different, but they have a visual uniformity, as if they’re all from the same humanity. When you look closely, though, their heads sit slightly differently on their bodies, their legs are longer or shorter, their torsos are thin or thick. They are us. And we are them.

 -Heidi Zuckerman,  CEO and director of the Orange County Museum of Art and author of Why Art Matters: The Bearable Lightness of Being.​

 

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Installation view, Ugo Rondinone, soul, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Maag Areal, Zurich, 2013. Courtesy of the artist.

Photo: Stefan Altenburger
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47 responses »

  4. Beautiful sculptures, Beth, and an especially beautiful message. I agree that we are better, more creative and stronger as a community when we champion and encourage each other’s uniqueness and creativity – rather than conformity. I bet you inspired your students with this advice and approach too – one of the best gifts a young person can receive. 💕

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    • yes, I love the message in this art, and you understand me well, ab. that is one of the things that I hoped to instill in my students, that they could be the best version of their unique themselves they could be, and to be proud of that.

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  12. Yes, we each matter and we each have a voice. This very message carried through a meeting I attended in my community last evening. A dozen of us gathered to talk about our concerns and that we need to voice them, to stand up for what’s right and decent and kind and compassionate, etc.

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  14. I agree; it is important to share what we think, whether it aligns with others’ opinions or not. Because that is how inspiration and development happen. If we only hear what we already “know,” where is the growth?

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  22. I just imagined humans in the far future digging up ruins of our great decayed cities and saying – so this is what they looked like in the days before AIQDFL.(I made that up after AI, because we don’t know, yet)

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