By In 1965, artists from around the world changed the landscape of California State University, Long Beach.
This fall marks the anniversary of the international Art Symposium in the United States, resulting in the original nine monumental sculptures on campus. The University Art Museum is celebrating with a trilogy of homages, including Far-Sited: California International Sculpture Symposium 1965/2015, the museum’s latest exhibit. A historical relic to the campus and region, the symposium has been a special project for UAM Interim Art Director Brian Trimble for the past three years.
To conserve this history and prepare for its golden anniversary, Trimble and UAM Permanent Collection Curator Maria Coltharp began a restorative initiative this past spring with the help of the Getty Conservation Institute and RLA Conservation of Art and Architecture. So far, two of the original nine sculptures have been thoroughly restored. On Tuesday, the UAM was awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services federal grant to further the restoration project.
The Far-Sited exhibit will be open to the public until Dec. 13. As the third portion to the symposium celebration, the UAM and the Museum of Latin American Art will be hosting Far-Sited: Creating and Conserving Art in Public Places, a 3-day conference discussing new materials and technology for art as well as new trends and conservation of public art, according to a CSULB press release.
The original symposium prompted the addition of 17 more original sculptures on campus from famous artists over the past five decades.
Piotr Kowalski’s “Now”
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“Now”
Groundbreaking for his sculpting techniques, Piotr Kowalski created “Now” by exploding dynamite attached to sheets of steel while underwater.
The city of Long Beach was a blue-collar port city at the time, marginally known for its art culture. Kowalski wanted to take advantage of the industrial material and machinery available to him.
“I sculpture with machines,” Kowalski said. “Like a piano that plays many melodies, a machine can be set to create many things. The alchemy is in the processing…I set up the forces—pressure, stresses, time—then let them behave with their own laws. I seek the utmost limits of the materials to make them do things they didn’t know they could do.”
Funded by the North American Aviation Corporation for research, Kowalski’s project resulted in the three main pieces of the sculpture, leaving the rest of the test material to be long forgotten, until Trimble and Coltharp located them in Pasadena artist Sarah Holt’s family home.
Trimble and Coltharp discovered the existence of the test sheets by watching a 1965 NAAC documentary on Kowalski’s technique.
Unbeknownst to Trimble and Coltharp, Holt had a piece in the UAM collection.
“We’ve had those kinds of discoveries along the way,” Trimble said fondly.
“Now” is located outside the University Student Union near the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
J.J. Beljon’s “Homage to Simon Rodia”
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“Homage to Simon Rodia”
The most recent symposium piece to be renovated, J.J. Beljon’s “Homage to Simon Rodia” is a 130-foot cement sculpture nestled on the fringes of campus. Beljon dedicated this piece to Rodia, the builder of the Watts Towers who had passed away shortly before the symposium started.
“Rodia, an Italian immigrant, built the towers as a way of saying ‘thank you’ to this country,” Beljon said in 1965 when asked about the piece. “I, too am grateful to America for her great ideas and with my work in this symposium say ‘thank you,’ too.”
The sculpture took 11 carpenters, 19 individual cast components and 260 tons of cement to construct, according to the UAM website. One of the cement blocks are lettered and designed in Rodia’s style as part of Beljon’s homage to the late architect.
Flash-forward fifty years to this summer, the UAM began restoration efforts with the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association only to discover a large mold problem brooding under the surface of molting layers of paint. Repainting the sculpture over the years without the proper restorative measures prevented the piece from breathing properly. Sitting directly on the grass, the cement was still drawing in moisture from the ground without any way for the trapped water to escape, Trimble said. Those working on the restoration had to remove mold from over 65 percent of the sculpture before painting it. Restoration was finished in August.
“It’s not as simple as slapping paint on something,” Coltharp said. “It’s a little bit more involved than painting your house or something.”
“Homage to Simon Rodia” is near the south side entrance to campus off of 7th Street.
Robert Murray’s “Duet”
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“Duet”
Known for its bright orange coloration in contrast to the blue skies over campus, Robert Murray’s “Duet” faced an identity crisis mid-spring. Completely funded by the Getty Conservation institute, this geometric sculpture’s renovation led to the discovery of the sculpture’s discoloration after years of painting and repainting. Those working on the project discovered that there were 13 layers of paint, hiding Murray’s original pigment intentions.
Time has also eroded the piece’s original shape. As a geometric monument, gravity has taken its toll on this “self-supporting” sculpture, according to the University Art Museum website.
Murray himself contributed to the renovations on his sculpture last semester. On top of a fresh and accurate coat of paint, Coltharp said that the sculpture is now more resistant to the elements.
“Ultimately what I’d like to see is that we get everything conserved, and then we raise endowments so that we can maintain this work for the campus and the community,” said Trimble. “It’s really our cultural heritage.”
“Duet” is located in the central quad outside the bookstore.
Kosso Eloul’s “Hardfact”
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“Hardfact”
One of the symposium co-organizers, Kosso Eloul created “Hardfact” as a “testimony to support and participation of industry” during the project, according to the UAM website. Mainly comprising of steel and cement, Eloul worked with specialists in space technology at the North American Aviation.
“I think that artists are always trying to be cutting edge,” Coltharp said in reference to the avant-garde nature of the Eloul’s work. “When you’re working with good artists, they’re going to surprise you with new things. There were good artists and they were ahead of their time.”
The UAM received an Institute of Museum and Library Services federal grant for $62,000 to restore the sculpture. Trimble said that he hopes to finish the renovation within the semester.
“The fusion of [steel and concrete] gave me something that I could not have achieved with either of them singly: the tension and the power of the metal—hard, clear, tense and dynamic—combined with the tremendous feeling of weight and stability of concrete,” Eloul once said, reflecting on his piece. “I want a man standing in front of it to…be very much alone with it, react to it and be activated by it—very privately.”
“Hardfact” is located on the hillside behind the Molecular and Life Science building.
