Moby Dick
Ava Blitz
2004
MATERIAL: other: concrete
DIMENSIONS: overall: 39 in x 53 in x 277 in
EDITION: Unique
CREDIT: Collection of the Artist
© Artist or Artist's Estate
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In 'Moby Dick', the relationship of the white concrete form to the earth creates a visual reminder of the epic character in the tale by Herman Melville. The idea for this sculpture came from the artist’s experiments at Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota where the acres of prairie reminded her of the vastness of the ocean. Working with interns, Blitz sewed clear plastic bags and filled them with sand to create the initial stacked form. The bags were then emptied, filled with cement, restacked, and left to cure into a hard, white structure. Over time, the plastic gradually shredded and was worn away by the elements, much as a skin or cocoon is shed, and the uniquely textured concrete units were revealed. Like the natural decay/renewal cycle that the artist symbolizes in her work, 'Moby Dick' has gone through cycles of fragmentation, growth and renewal. In its newest installation, the multiples have been mortared together creating yet another stage in the metamorphoses of the sculpture and pushing the piece toward architecture.
