'Double Candle' (2020) by Sterling Ruby -- Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden The National Mall Washington (DC) December 2020
Per The Smithsonian Magazine September 2020:
When the sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden finally reopened last month in Washington (DC) after being closed off to visitors for the past 20 weeks due to the worldwide pandemic, the occasion was marked by a beacon of light.
The 24-foot tall tapers of Sterling Ruby’s bronze sculpture 'Double Candle' was one of a pair of monumental sculptures installed in the interim to be part of a slightly redesigned and reshuffled garden. For the 48-year-old artist, it was the latest in a wide-ranging career in art that has covered a number of disciplines, from recreating a Supermax prison at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2008 to soft work that incorporated the American flag. An earlier version of Double Candle, covered in American flags, appeared as part of a Ruby retrospective at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art earlier this year.
Ruby said that Double Candle was a soft sculpture that was then cast in bronze using a traditional lost-wax technique. The challenge of this is pulling a platinum silicone mold off of a non-rigid form that also has a nappy and fibrous surface texture (from the polyfleece).
It took a lot of experimentation to stiffen and stabilize the surface, yet still maintain the texture of the fabric. Chasing the welds of the bronze panels proved to be a greater challenge, as the texture is equally difficult to replicate during that process. The only remnants of the fabrication process are a single, straight and unfinished weld down the sides of each candle, where the original fabric seams were. Here the stitches of the weld symbolize the stitching of the fabric from the original soft sculpture.
Ruby wanted Double Candle to be solemn and dark, located in the lineage of bronze sculptures throughout art history.
At the same time, the surface needed to convey nuances of fabric, the original material from which it was cast. The patina picks up the depth and texture of the textile, its folds and seams. There is a gravity to the weight and color, it will turn greener with time and hopefully have a gradient that changes from the flame down to the bottom of the candle.
Rudy said that there will be a third and final Double Candle, and he was working right now on where the next one will be installed.
DSC6920 V3
'Double Candle' (2020) by Sterling Ruby -- Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden The National Mall Washington (DC) December 2020
Per The Smithsonian Magazine September 2020:
When the sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden finally reopened last month in Washington (DC) after being closed off to visitors for the past 20 weeks due to the worldwide pandemic, the occasion was marked by a beacon of light.
The 24-foot tall tapers of Sterling Ruby’s bronze sculpture 'Double Candle' was one of a pair of monumental sculptures installed in the interim to be part of a slightly redesigned and reshuffled garden. For the 48-year-old artist, it was the latest in a wide-ranging career in art that has covered a number of disciplines, from recreating a Supermax prison at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2008 to soft work that incorporated the American flag. An earlier version of Double Candle, covered in American flags, appeared as part of a Ruby retrospective at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art earlier this year.
Ruby said that Double Candle was a soft sculpture that was then cast in bronze using a traditional lost-wax technique. The challenge of this is pulling a platinum silicone mold off of a non-rigid form that also has a nappy and fibrous surface texture (from the polyfleece).
It took a lot of experimentation to stiffen and stabilize the surface, yet still maintain the texture of the fabric. Chasing the welds of the bronze panels proved to be a greater challenge, as the texture is equally difficult to replicate during that process. The only remnants of the fabrication process are a single, straight and unfinished weld down the sides of each candle, where the original fabric seams were. Here the stitches of the weld symbolize the stitching of the fabric from the original soft sculpture.
Ruby wanted Double Candle to be solemn and dark, located in the lineage of bronze sculptures throughout art history.
At the same time, the surface needed to convey nuances of fabric, the original material from which it was cast. The patina picks up the depth and texture of the textile, its folds and seams. There is a gravity to the weight and color, it will turn greener with time and hopefully have a gradient that changes from the flame down to the bottom of the candle.
Rudy said that there will be a third and final Double Candle, and he was working right now on where the next one will be installed.
DSC6920 V3