In Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park, clockwise from upper left: (1) Wake, 2004, by Richard Serra; (2) Neukom Vivarium, 2003-2004, by Mark Dion; (3) Love & Loss, 2005-2006, by Roy McMakin; and (4) Perre's Ventaglio III, 1967, by Beverly Pepper.
The child and I were planning on visiting SAM's recently opened Olympic Sculpture Park next weekend, but with good weather and time for wandering we went this morning. The day was slightly warm winter weather, almost 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and partly cloudy. The Olympic Mountains, namesake of the park, made a wonderful backdrop for the sculptures, the scenery, and the trails that snake around and within both. The child was fascinated by ducks that dove beneath the surface of Puget Sound only to pop back up a few moments later.
I was intrigued by many of the sculptures, but kept finding myself pulled back to Typewriter Eraser, Scale X by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. First, this sculpture is visually stunning. The bright red of the eraser, the metallic gray of the metal wheel, and the brilliant blue of the brush stood out against the more muted blue of sky, gray of concrete, and red-tinged ground cover. Second, it is so absurd as to be something that shocks. I remember selling typewriter erasers when I worked for a stationery store, but they were almost obsolete even then. The computer age has now relegated them extinct. It is almost an artifact of a long-lost age. Third, this was one of only a handful of the sculptures that was figurative rather than abstract. There is no having to guess what this represents. It is a typewriter eraser writ large!
The child and I will be returning to explore further when SAM completes all of the work on the park, and as the weather becomes more fair. Next time we will also picnic in Myrtle Edwards Park and make a day of our wandering.
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