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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twelve: Using color to express ideas > Melting sculpture, City Hall Park, New York City, New York, 2009
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18-MAR-2009

Melting sculpture, City Hall Park, New York City, New York, 2009

Created by New York sculptor Robert Melee, this work of contemporary public art is one of four such sculptures on display through April of 2009 in City Hall Park. I photographed this one using the park’s Victorian fence as a foreground layer. Melee’s figures began as human forms, and were gradually abstracted by layers of brightly colored paint, giving the appearance of a meltdown. The artist says their meaning is meant to be elusive – “There are no answers, just suggestions on psychological states.” Photographing another artist’s art is always a challenge. I build my image around the heavily saturated primary colors that energize the abstracted figure, squeezed here between an ornate fence and the historic, softly focused former newspaper buildings that fill the background layer.

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Phil Douglis21-Apr-2009 19:42
It is always a joy when someone views one of my images after having seen the original subject themselves. Thanks for seeing the interaction of the ornamental iron fence, the historic buildings, and the contemporary art in the same way that I saw it, Jenene.
JSWaters21-Apr-2009 18:17
I saw these sculptures last week but had forgotten I had seen this image before going to NYC. Sandwiching this one between the ornamental iron fence and the historic building conveys perfectly my initial reaction. City Hall Park is very orderly and exudes a staid and formal atmosphere, while these sculptures are wildly colorful and grounded in pure fantasy. They are quite a contradiction - I lingered on the Broadway sidewalk to see how they were received, and sadly most people kept there faces in their guidebooks.
Jenene
Phil Douglis03-Apr-2009 02:15
And I saw that fence as a restraint, squeezing the colorful figure in place. So yes, rigidity is evident here. As Melee himself points out, his sculptured figures are intended to suggest psychological states, and rigidity certainly fits that description.
Tim May03-Apr-2009 00:10
There is a rigidity here which causes me to pause. Maybe it's my mood today - but I find the relationship between the fence and the sculpture very depressing. It as if rigidity lasts and the flow of color melts away and it lost.
Phil Douglis31-Mar-2009 00:19
Thanks, Rose Marie -- the subject is very unusual, a wonderful work of art. All i did was to stress its beauty and give it some context.
sunlightpix30-Mar-2009 21:59
Intriguing! I like it!
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