1) The above picture is of a sculpture called the alchemist that is in front of the student union. This one was one of my favorites. I liked how big it was and how it was possible to actually walk inside it; the interactive aspect of the piece made it an especially entertaining piece. I also like the construction of the sculpture. The light, shiny metal shines in the sunlight and is easy to distinguish from the surroundings. I also like how there are lots of gaps between the characters that the viewers can see through. Especially on a day like the one I went on, the blue sky seen through the piece is really beautiful and incorporates color into the monochromatic sculpture.
2) Above is a piece that I actually came across by accident. After wandering the halls looking for a piece that ended up being in a locked conference room, we were just trying to leave the building when we came across this piece in the staircase. This was by Carrie McKnelly and it was called Air Forms: A Composition of Illuminated Assemblies; the colors inside the 'bubbles' would change as time passed and the entire installment spanned at least 2 floors of the staircase. I loved this one partly because we found it by accident, but mostly because it was colorful and dynamic. It reminded me of droplets of water in the shape and transparency, but it also reminded me of cells because of the distinct, colorful 'nucleus'.
3) This one (above), called Untitled, was made in 1952 by John Newman with pastel, charcoal, pencil and collage on paper. This piece was on the third floor of the student union. It was interesting and it matched the overall monochrome aesthetic of MIT art as a whole, but it definitely was not my favorite. It was very basic and I only had to look at it for a minute or so before I felt that I'd seen all there was to see.
4) This sculpture called TV Man or Five Piece Cube with a Strange Hole was made by David Bakalar in 1993. The first thing that occurred to me when looking at this piece is that I wasn't sure which hole was the strange one. The one in the top block? The support blacks? Or the big empty 'hole' in the center of the piece? Despite the confusion, I still liked this piece; the geometric design of the whole assembly was interesting and still felt organized even though it was very abstract. Its open to interpretation, meaning that it can incite conversations and sharing of ideas.
5) This 1963 Dimitri Hadzi piece is called Elmo-MIT. When I first saw the name, my mind went straight to Sesame Street but after seeing the sculpture, which in no way represents a puppet from a popular children's TV show, I felt that I needed to do a little more research to understand. I quickly found that 'elmo' translates to helmet in Italian, which can be seen in the shape of the sculpture (which also happened to be the first outdoor sculpture at MIT); the piece is almost intimidating as a result of its shape, size, and color which is congruent with what one would consider was/battle inspired based art.
6) This piece, called Birth of the Muses by Jacques Lipchitz, was just a couple yards from Elmo (see section above. It matched the abstracted, metallic style but instead of battle themes this one appears to be more about art and expression. Though it is a little muddled, the only thing I was able to perceive in the tangle of metal was the form of a winged horse. The name of the piece suggests a connection with early Greek mythology which further reinforces the idea that this was a Pegasus. I'm not totally sure what this piece means, but it is interesting to look at.
7) This piece is called Guennette by Micheal Heizer. I immediately liked it just because of its size; I was able to walk around it and even interact with is. After a little research I learned that the whole arrangement is made of billion year old pink granite that was mined in the town of Guennette in northeastern Quebec. I like how the sculpture fits into the surrounding area but is also draws your attention well enough to be noteworthy.
8) This piece by Alexander Calder is called La Grande Voile, which translates to the big sail. The piece is reminiscent of a sail with all of its non-uniform faces, but the dark color is unusual for that particular type of imagery. Like many of the other works on campus, this one is huge. It allows people to walk under and through it so that its integrated into the environment. I really like art that is integrated into its surroundings because I feel like it enhances the already existing beauty of the space without taking a viewers attention out of the moment.
9) The two pictures above are of Louise Nevelson's Transparent Horizon which was made in 1975. This work fits very exactly into MIT's giant, abstract, metal/stone sculpture aesthetic. I appreciate the consistency across the campus. I feel that variety and consistency are both equally admirable, so my judgement depends solely on how well the pieces achieve each of those goals. About this piece specifically, I didn't really understand how it was a horizon but it was interesting to look at.
