Bradley Whitney
_ a portfolio of work
_ a portfolio of work
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A lesson in letting go... ../meditations
Meditations on the Ball Dairy Farm
2005, installation: concrete, white oak, found objects, copper, milk.
Context is one of the underlying concepts that seems to work its way into the more significant projects I'm involved in. It is the idea of relationships, connections, and perspectives. Context drives purpose yet suggests background. Context also establishes meaning and defines motive. Yet, despite the impression that context seems to rule the intention when creating art, context is really the mind-space where creativity is channeled - and also, challenged.
I was invited to create this sculpture for a show in Floyd, VA. My inspiration arose from an introduction to farm life provided to me through my friendship with three generations of a farming family; how they intimately worked with their land in a poetic yet sometimes frustrating cycle. In turn, my understanding of the cyclic nature of "live and let be" was further reinforced during the creation of this piece. As I intended the wagon wheel to be perfectly aligned with the front of the concrete pool below, forces outside my control wanted it to turn differently. I fought with the hanging of the hoop, but it always turned to find it's own balance. In the end, one of the Ball's grandsons said to me, "...just let it be, Brad. That's how nature intends the hoop to hang."
The forms are fundamental to geometry; the square, the triangle, the circle. These shapes symbolically represent earth, man and God. As each component’s symbolism is inherently part of farming life - earth, fire, water, sky - the sculpture is a lesson where the farmer’s works brought on by love, sweat and tears assist toward the understanding of our communion with the cycles of life.
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