WP3 prewrite 4

My sculpture, Pieta, seems to have a very high focus on reprresenting another object. The sculpture creates a scene, that in high detail depicts one person, mourning the recent loss of a loved one, likely due to age. It is important to note that almost anyone can take this message from the piece without any in depth analysis. This means that the artist wanted to place a higher emphasis on the message this piece sends rather than the artistic values it possesses. Lucchesi uses several mechanics to accomplish this. First, he uses a high level of detail on both people, so the audience is not just able to tell they are people, but also that one is an old man, one is a young woman, that the old man is dead or dying, and that the woman is crying. Next, Lucchesi chooses to limit the number of elements included. There is only the old man, the woman, and the bed. which almost appear to be floating in space. This acts to isolate the scene and eliminate all destractions in the audience's mind. Finnaly, he chooses to use a solid, neutral colored material which does not draw much attention. This puts the focus on the items it forms rather than the material itself.

Pieta is succesful as an art object too as it manages to incorporate several artistic values. Firstly, the piece includes a high sense of balance as the man is located on one edge of the bed and the woman is located on the other. Contrast is another element and is accomplished between the old man, and the young woman. Thirdly, visual heiarchy is used as Pieta tells a story, bringing the audience's eye from one object to the next. Lastly, we can also see that there is a tension present, as the womans hand is frozen in an akward position, reaching towards the man.

The location of this piece is of particular interest. Prior to this project, I personally had never even seen this piece of artwork, as it is located on the side of the art museum, surrounded on three sides by six foot high shrubs. It is likely that this sculpture was placed here for several reaasons. The first thing is that Pieta does convey a quite depressing message and it is likely the University did not just want to stick it out in the middle of a courtyard. Next, the sculpture has a very unique shape and the shrubs surrounding it on three sides act to limit the viewing opportunity to only one side. This possibly is to ensure that the audience see in the sculpture what the artist had intended. Lastly, the shrubs surrounding the sculpture almost always keep it in the shade, possibly playing furture on the already "dark" mood of the piece.