Altos del Mar Sculpture Park

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Throughout the past four months Altos Del Mar Sculpture Park has been dissected within the entries of our blogs, and every detail intricately explained in order to give you the most accurate visual of the park and inspire excitement.  However, there seems to be a looming elephant in the room that asks: “How long will it be until visitors have memorized the park?”  The answer is: ADMSP will never be the same park twice because of its layout, integral community programming and sculpture rotations.  As part of our number one commitment to the community and guests, the exhibitions will change every three years for the large pieces, and small sculptures will change every 18 months.  The themes of each room will remain constant: The Dunefield will host Contemporary pieces; the Maritime Garden: Figurative, and the Tree Allées will exhibit Abstract. The themes of the planned exhibitions are contemplated as follows:

THE TRIUMPH OF MODERNISM:

Welcome to the “Roaring Twenties,” an era in American History where we were no longer colorblind, and began to live again since the aftermath of WWI.  Europe began to take notice of our significance, and one of the most influential by-products of the intellectual upswing in the mood of the period was the revival of interest in the human body among artists and sculptors, who approached the theme in a wide variety of ways. The revival of color was the new rave and ART DECO emerged bringing with it Archipenko’s Turning Torso, Marino Marini and Hermann Haller and Pablo Gargallo.

Also present, were Charles Chester French, who realized Michelangelo’s dream of transforming an entire mountain into a sculpture in Mount Rushmore, and in Germany Ernesto de Fiori, who had become a German citizen, was at work on his delicately nerved human figures.

Matare and Barlach also exploited this period of inspiration and experienced a phase of creative bloom in those years. Giacometti and Brancusi also represent an important phase of their authors’ development, as Brancusi created the most astounding sculptural work of the era between 1935 and 1938: The Soldiers’ Memorial in Tirgu Jiu, the only modern memorial of its kind erected during the period, still a wonder today by art critics and historians who ask themselves why he chose a small Romanian country village as the site for this work. The first Surrealist sculptural works of Joan Miro and Salvador Dali (Venus de Milo with Drawers, 1936) where also responsible for the Triumph of Modernism.

THE FASCINATION OF TECHNOLOGY

Nowadays, technology seems to be blamed for the murder of inspiration and the end of originality, but between the era of WWI and WWII, this uncharted territory seemed promising and vast, as artists innocently explored this new realm and were awakened to a future of possibility. Sculptures engaged in competition with architects and rivaled on creating towering sculptures mimicking buildings.  They were fascinated by rationality, the purposefulness and predictability of architectural design, and strived to take the genre to a new level. Technology invaded both figure and object: the Bauhaus gained rapidly in significance, and artists involved in this line of development included Oskar Schlemmer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, El Lisitzky, Naum Gabo, Max Bill, the American Alexander Calder and Alexander Rodschenko.

Despite it being a fruitful period, the fascination was overshadowed by the increased tension the prevailed between the two World Wars and the lingering mood was expressed in playful irrational forms, even though current events of the time hinted towards gloom…

A Surrealist Revolution gave rise to debates on strategy in art, and with this tendency were Chirico, Kurt Schwitters, Man Ray, Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Magritte und Giacometti, as well as Meret Oppenheim.

A better reflection to the current characteristics exhibited between the two World Wars was pensive, arresting works of sculpture. One of the most important works done during this period is Max Beckmann’s Mann im Dunklen (Man in the Dark) in which he hinted at the catastrophe that loomed ahead as early as 1934.

NEW DEPARTURES 1945 – 1960

Post WW II, the world began to catch its breath again and recover from the catastrophic aftermath that all where exposed to.  The focus of modern sculpture shifted toward redefinition and re-formation of the figure.  Ambassadors of this tendency included Giacometti and Moore, with all of their dissimilarities, as well as Laurens and Richier.

Figurative aspects endured longer in the sculpture medium than in painting. Gradually, non representational sculpture gained the upper hand, as in the work of Arp, Wotruba, and Calder, for instance, and in the constructive invention of pure form seen in the art of Max Bill, Gabo and Pevser.

The American post-war influence on art become more and more evident as time went by , and artists like  Nathan Rapoport or Gerhard Marcks realized significant works during this phase. Ossip Zadkine created his City Destroyed in Rotterdam.

Defenders of Realism came forward in an equally powerful movement in art, led by Italian artist Giacomo Manzi.  This period was marked by rivalry among a number of movements that sought to take the lead on the quest for the right approach to sculpture – Surrealism, Realism, Constructivism, and others.

POST MODERNISM AND MORE

In the years following 1945, more developments proceeded and constraints on the presentation of art were gradually lifted.  Viewers were increasingly receptive to the new forms of expressions and since the atrocities of WW II, were less prone to shock.  New forms of expressions in art were accepted and became part of their everyday experiences. Radical shifts and new concepts in art were no longer automatically suspected of posing a danger to more matured society, and subversive concepts were absorbed as sources of creative energy. Socio-cultural processes contributed to the mix. Art embraced pluralism intolerant of dogma which found expression in a staggering diversity of trends and currents. In sculpture, public favor was bestowed primarily on artists that sought to mediate between abstraction and figuration. Currents such as Minimal Art, Arte Povera, Fluxus, Pop Art, Land Art and Installation gradually began to take shape.

After a ten-year hiatus, Giacometti began presenting his works to the public again. Young British sculptors like Reg Butler and Eduardo Paolozzi presented their work. George Rickey, Hans Cricken, Chillida, and others realized monumental metal sculptures, and Uecker, Tinguely, Nikki de St. Phalle, and Claes Oldenburg rose to the status of classical sculptors. Anselm Kiefer created his Books, Naim June Paik made video installations, and Conceptual art entered the foreground. Artists of the 21^st Century, who are just now beginning to break free of the influences described above are Stefan Balkenhol, Jessica Stockholder, Absalon, Sophie Calle, Sylvie Fleury, Isa Genzken, Miroslav Balka, Sol LeWitt, Lawrence Weiner, Clegg & Guttman, Jeff Koons, Matt Mullican, and many others.

ADMSP Programming- Changing Exhibitions of Sculpture

At the center of all these rooms in which the above-mentioned influences can be viewed, lies, “The Lawn” one of the four naturally divided rooms where ADMSP’s community and social programming will take place.  Here, our efforts will foster “the harmonious interaction of people and art.”

ADMSP will provide park tours, art classes, exercise lessons, entertainment and private events that will connect ADMSP with the greater Miami Beach area and the world!  What will we feature?

The ability to discover art and nature simultaneously – ADMSP will strive to provide the community a series of educational initiatives  year round, featuring art classes, workshops and summer camps that are created around the landscape’s natural settings, the parks changing exhibitions and the natural setting of the urban environment.

Finally, ADMSP will serve those who need it most! These are the people in our community who find themselves homeless, on probation, addicted, in the U.S. illegally, working as prostitutes and so on. We refer to this demographic as the under-served (not to be confused with undeserved!). ADMSP will serve the under-served by providing financial support to other local charities that provide services to this demographic.