Mirror Fence - Alyson Shotz

Mirror Fence is a public art piece by Alyson Shotz. The artwork was originally created in 2003 and was then refabricated in 2014. Shotz’s Mirror Fence is located in Storm King Mountains art center along with many other public art sculptures. The piece consists of a straight non closing line of a standard picket fence design made with mirrors. Alyson Shotz is a New York based sculpture artist. She originally studied geology and physics before going into sculpture art. Shotz’s abstract sculpture art is influenced by science due to her background. Shotz uses her art sculptures to enhance natural phenomena like light, gravity, time, and space. Storm King Art Center is a sculpture park located in New York’s Hudson Valley. Storm king is 500-acres of beautiful outdoor scenery and sculptures by many artists from all over. A place with such rich nature causes it to be a perfect setting for many artists to stage their art. This includes Alyson Shotz Mirror Fence.

 

Alyson Shotz’s Mirror Fence looks to be the same shape, height, and size of the type of picket fence you would image when one talks about the “white picket fence” life. Though it might sound like an average picket fence from this description, the difference is that this fence is made of mirrors. Shotz’s fence also doesn’t enclose anything like a fence usually would but instead it goes in a straight line. The reflective properties of this piece also make it blend in with the lush scenic environment that surrounds it. The Mirror element causes the fence to not even look like it’s there. Beside the general shape this art piece acts almost the exact opposite of a fence. It doesn’t enclose anything or give the illusion of privacy because it goes in a straight line and is made out of a surface that reflects images.  The reflective element of this piece along with its location being outside make it different depending on the time and season. This means that everytime you see it it’s technically a different piece. All these elements make Alyson Shotz’s Mirror Fence a very interesting art piece in a very fitting location that can be enjoyed by all. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blacksmiths of Modernity and Soviet-era Mosaics

Image
  Blacksmiths of Modernity and Soviet-era Mosaics Grace Campbell ARTH1132: Modern to Contemporary Art and Design Professor Joanne Kesten Oct 22, 2023 Figure 1. Zubchenko, Halyna. Pryshedko, Hryhorii. Blacksmiths of Modernity. 1974, Institute for Nuclear Research, Kyiv. Figure 2. Zubchenko, Halyna. Pryshedko, Hryhorii. Blacksmiths of Modernity. 1974, Institute for Nuclear Research, Kyiv. Blacksmiths of Modernity is a Soviet-era mosaic located outside of the Institute for Nuclear Research, Ukraine, Kyiv. Most Western audiences can identify this piece because of its appearance in HBO’s Chernobyl , a limited series that portrays the horrors of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Like most mosaics from this period, the key component of the piece is the smalti. Smalti are tiny pieces of opaque glass in various shapes. The history of mosaics and smalti extends far before the Soviet Union. Mosaics themselves have been an art form found all the way back in Mesopotamia. However, most mosaics in...
Read more

Blacksmiths of Modernity

Image
  Zubchenko, Halyna. Pryshedko, Hryhorii. Blacksmiths of Modernity. 1974, Institute for Nuclear Research, Kyiv. Blacksmiths of Modernity is a Soviet-era mosaic located outside of the Institute for Nuclear Research, Ukraine, Kyiv. Like most mosaics from this period, it is made of smalto. When examined further, viewers can see the small pieces of glass populating the wall. Thus creating a 3D piece with multiple layers. The piece itself depicts two well-built men pushing rays of light into an orb that centers the pieces. The man on the right cups the orb with a free hand, studying it intently. In contrast, the man on the left focuses on the task at hand. Furthermore, while the color does vary from photo to photo it is supposed to be highly saturated. This goes back to the soviet area when those in power wanted to brighten up the bland and lifeless landscapes. So, this piece utilizes a mostly triadic color palette. A deep blood orange is used for the men and the orb, while blues, yello...
Read more

Mothers of Gynecology - Final Paper

Image
  Marra Thompson Modern & Contemporary Art Joanne Kesten 10/22/2023 Mothers of Gynecology Medical distrust for black people has always been there since the beginning of the myth that black people have bigger pain tolerance than their white counterparts. This all started with multiple false claims made by scientists and physicians in the 1800s stating that black people were biologically closer to apes while white people were evolving more. Branching off of here, this trickles down into the belief that black people were hypersexual and were less intelligent than white people and this belief was heavily pushed onto black women slaves. With that knowledge, an artist has made an impact with that history in mind.   Mothers of Gynecology by Michelle Browder. What is it exactly? Well, it is a monument made in 2021 that resides in Montgomery, Alabama that depicts three enslaved black women who were used in medical experimentation by Dr. James Marion Sims in the late 1840s in ...
Read more