Muesum Project Ryan Bell

When I went to the Fort Worth Museum for Modern Art I honestly just thought that all I would see was some boring paintings(heck, I only chose that museum since it was free on the day that I went). And while granted there were some I didn’t think some of the things that I saw(like a ladder narrowed as it got higher making its own vanishing point and a pile of thousands of individual wrapped candies ). The one piece that stood out to me was Anselm Kiefer’s Book with wings.

Book with wings is a sculpture that can be seen in the round. It is made up of lead, tin, and steel. It seems to be an additive sculpture with an internal frame holding the wings in place. I can only imagine the difficulties of sculpting with lead since it is a weak metal and poisonous (especially since it two years to make).
It is made up of three main shapes. There are two triangles that form the wings and a rectangle that forms the book itself. The balance of the piece is symmetrical. The piece could be split down the middle leaving a page and a wing on each side. This also leads to a symmetrical balance in the piece.
The space the statue takes up is quite large. The wingspan of it is bigger than me. But there is a lot of empty space: below the statue around the base and all along the room since it is the only piece in the room. This to me gives a sense of solidarity. Also the circular room that the statue is in really focuses all of you attention to the piece since it is the only one in the room and since it is in the center of the room.
The room it lit directly above the statue casting the shadow straight down to the floor. This gives that feeling that the book glowing with knowledge or divinity especially if you stand directly in front of it so the light reflects to your face (can see this in the second picture).
Emphasis seems to start in the middle of the book. You can see that this is where most of the reflecting light if coming from. Then the eyes would be drawn outwards to the wings, to the smaller glimmers of light in the cups of the wings, and then down the tips of them.
This statue is made out of lead so the only color is the dull grey. It really goes with the grey of the concrete of the room that it is in, yet stands out because of the light on it. Also the steel stand does stand out a little with its black paint and red rust.
The texture is a very note worthy aspect of this piece. Not only is the texture of the feathers of the wing visible, but the texture of the pages of the book is very detailed. The pages are wrinkled and crunched up to and the cover appears to be weathered down.