Neither a 'Bean' nor a 'Comma': What do we call that thing?
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Jul. 8—Dear Answer Man: I hope you can reflect some light here. Does the silver-colored and comma-shaped art sculpture outside the Mayo Civic Center (near the Art Center) have a name, or is it untitled? Also, its silver exterior looks just like the "The Bean" (real name: "Cloud Gate") in Chicago by artist Anish Kapoor, but Wikipedia says the our "comma" artist is Po Shu Wang. Was the similarity intentional? — Mirrored in Rochester.
Mirror Mirror,
What is art? To quote Justice Potter Stewart related to a similar topic, "I know it when I see it." Berkeley, California-based artist Po Shu Wang's art is often not just seen, but heard and interacted with. In that sense, his installation here in Rochester — which goes by the name "Circumcenter" — is certainly reminiscent of "Cloud Gate," more commonly called "The Bean" in Chicago. However, Wang very much seems to be his own artist.
You can find sculptures with similar shapes and made from similar materials by Wang across the country. In fact, one of his earlier pieces (2007) that is made of a silver-colored reflective metal is a sphere on the Texas Tech University campus that is titled "Comma." If you happen to be in Lubbock, Texas, surely heading to Orlando's to dine on some Southwest-inspired pasta dishes, then visit "Comma" on the TTU campus. Inside the metal sphere are two bells tuned an octave apart. You can strike the bells simultaneously, playing them and listening to the harmonic convergence.
More in tune with "Circumcenter" might be a Sacramento, California-based sculpture called "Your Words are Music to my Ears" (2012), where a horn-shaped sculpture takes typed words and creates music from those words, which is then played through the horn.
So, by the time Wang started making "Circumcenter" in Rochester, he had his own background of using spheres and cylindrical shapes make out of a reflective metal material. Not to mention, Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" was not formally dedicated until 2006, and by that time Wang was already creating interactive public artwork. Claiming one was inspired by the other because of material and shape is like saying someone who carved a sculpture of Answer Man out of marble — what a sight that would be! — was cribbing from the work of Michelangelo's "David."
Finally, while "Cloud Gate" is interactive in the sense that you lay underneath and take photos of yourself in the reflection — Answer Man has a few of these selfies ... don't judge — Wang's work often has a more interactive feature where you press buttons, move a part of the work, and observe the results.
As the artist explained it to Answer Man: "'Circumcenter' is an electronic wishing well where visitors are invited to throw in whatever thoughts and feelings they may share at the moment via an input kiosk behind a glass facade overlooking the sculpture, where their words help evolve a light and choir composition output from the artwork."
He added, "The sculptural form literally describes 'Everyone is the center where everyone else circumscribe,' and so the title 'Circumcenter.'"
As for the materials, Wang said the choice has more to do with durability and maintenance than anything else.
So, I would paraphrase Justice Stewart, "I know unique art when I see it." And you, Mirror Mirror, can see it every day in downtown Rochester.
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