It was my privilege to meet with artist Chris Piazza recently and see the progress of her sculpture
Saint Peter - The Thirteenth Apostle. This piece is scheduled to be installed at The Cathedral Church of Saint John The Divine in the upcoming 2010/2011 year. (picture left: detail of broken plates covering dome, sans grout).
It is an ambitious, complicated sculpture (about 16' tall and 4' wide), with inspiration drawn from four individuals - artist -
Sabato (Simon) Rodia , writer -
Vladimir Mayakovsky, artist -
Raymond Isidore , and architect -
Antoni GaudÃ. Piazza has written a
story-essay on her sculpture and it's worth a read if you would like to be privy to the maze of ideas that spawned this particular piece. Even though Piazza is admittedly affected by the work of these artists in her drive to create the
Saint Peter - The Thirteenth Apostle sculpture, the breath of life she is giving St. Peter is clearly her own vision. The reference to the work of these artists informs the critical base for St. Peter, but the artist feels that this is personal stimulus, not required data for the viewer's appreciation of the piece.(picture right: 2 segments of dome top partially completed)
Saint Peter - The Thirteenth Apostle will include a figure clothed in an elaborate tapestry of garments. Large fishhooks, antique costume pearls, letter shaped broken pearl buttons and belt buckles sewn in reassembled pattern, gold threads painstakingly removed to show the trace pattern... all montaged into a unique, ceremonial garment that covers our main figure of St. Peter. The figure will strike a subtle pose with a hand gesture akin to the depiction of saints that one might see in medieval churches. A case with a domed top and arched windows will encase the figure. The outside of this case is covered in broken ceramics and shells taken from the artist's collection, as well as from special contributions of broken plates and ceramics by neighbors and friends. Small notes documenting memories associated with the donated broken ceramics will be rolled up and encased in the sculpture. This is a piece you will have to have time to view to fully appreciate it's details. The pictures shown here will give you a preview. (picture left: detail of St. Peter's garment).
If you're not familiar with Piazza's work take a look at her
website. She is best known for her bunraku puppet-like figures (along with the sense of story telling associated with this Japanese theater). The puppet-like figures are often encased or contained in elaborately articulated boxes or displays that give added context to the suggestion of the narrative. She is an avid collector of objects of all sorts, old photographs, antique buttons, shoes, jewelry, plates, clothing, cans, hats, shells - anything and everything that catches her eye. She is fascinated with the history and sensitive to the power that age bestows on her cache of objects. In her sculptures, Piazza distills and reassemble these objects into personal and mysterious narratives that reveal a clear vision of purpose. Piazza frequently outfits her characters with surprising clothing tailored in obsessive detail and collaged objects alluding to gestalt-like purpose. Piazza also does smaller more intimate sculptures and collages.
I'm looking forward to seeing
Saint Peter - The Thirteenth Apostle completed, and I'll keep you posted on the date of the installation.
It was my privilege to meet with artist Chris Piazza recently and see the progress of her sculpture Saint Peter - The Thirteenth Apostle. This piece is scheduled to be installed at The Cathedral Church of Saint John The Divine in the upcoming 2010/2011 year. (picture left: detail of broken plates covering dome, sans grout).
