AMERICAN VISTAS: Life and Art of John Van Alstine" by Tim Kane

Drop # 6:

From: AMERICAN VISTAS: The Life and Art of John Van Alstine" by Tim Kane https://johnvanalstine.com//Amer_Vistas_infopage_11-2022.htm

(**warning - political option forth-coming, if you are a Trump Cult worshiper/groupie - skip this one)

Drop #6: "SISYPHUS and COVID New Realities – tough Path Upward"
During the Covid lockdown John Van Alstine revisits the Sisyphean myth that he has turned to frequently to comment on the creative process. He created 14 new works in the series that are particularly germane in a different way specific to the Covid period.

He states in 2020 "As the world struggles with the Covid pandemic and political regimes which deny science, we are all confronted with the symbolic task of pushing our stone upward, a seemingly unending task as we deal with the new realities that have been thrown in our path."

"These new 2020 Sisyphean works employ a similar formal vocabulary as in previous periods – circles, stones, arcs, incline planes - but the focus is shifted to confront and give an artist's voice to the Covid period. In several of these works poignant titles and text, stamped directly into the bronze, add new expressive elements that forcefully hammer home his point."

Van Alstine goes on to say, "Confront. Yes, it's a strong word and not typical of my work or usual intent. But this period was different. Not only were we all faced with the spread of a virus the likes not seen in a century, but with the inept, downright selfish, self-promoting response of “I alone can fix it” mentality of our political powers – basically one big asshole - that purposefully spread propaganda, worked against and demeaned “experts”, all to gain more personal political power. The inclusion of the embedded/stamped text on the bronze is new for me, prompted by outrage, and the need to better communicate, “speak up” in the only way I knew how, through my sculpture."

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AMERICAN VISTAS: Life and Art of John Van Alstine" by Tim Kane

Drop # 5:

A COMMUTE THROUGH INDUSTRIAL REMNANTS
During the early 1980’s Van Aline moved from DC to Jersey City, NY on the west bank of the Hudson River just across from lower Manhattan. He kept his teaching job at the University of Maryland, and made the 4 hour commute through the heart of industrial northeast from Jersey City to teach at College Park weekly. This interaction with what he calls industrial architecture added more fuel to his increasingly large sculptures, with more free flowing with arches, beams and riveted towers, combined with stone, often twisting and looking like concrete, while steel holds them together as it juts outward, sometimes like limbs of Leviathans.

Van Alstine describes how his process merged with steel and its larger meanings.
"Because I use found objects, I respond to the environment that I’m in. In the early 80’s I was driving through some of the most industrialized parts of the country, Kearney NJ, Newark, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore…weekly. My studio was near the waterfront of Jersey City directly across from the World Trade Center towers. I was continually searching out physical material for my sculpture. The marine and industrial setting on the west bank of the Hudson was amazing; huge riveted-beam draw bridges, the Pulaski Skyway".

"The deserted industrial warehouses, abandoned ship piers were all around. It was visually gritty, sweaty, blue collar, it was pervasive; it entangled you, immersing and penetrating into your senses.” It is no surprise that all of this began to seep into his work. “I would visit scrap yards, boat yards and select steel remnants much like I did with stone quarries. I was looking for a narrative, a prose about metal fabrication, industrialization and urban life. These discarded elements were left for the taking, orphaned excesses from the great production of 20th century industry."

There were many work created at this time including, Drastic Measures, Rockslide I and II, Rounder I and II, Los Arcos, and more.
#johnvanalstine #johnvanalstinecarolineramersdorfersculpture #americanvistas #TimKane #stoneandsteelsculpture #JerseyCity #basculebridge #polaskiskyway #adirondackartist

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DROP #4 AMERICAN VISTAS: Life and Art of John Van Alstine" by Tim Kane

Toiling along with Sisyphus: A Journey Unfolds, Part 1

To truly understand John Van Alstine's sculpture, you have to delve into his relationship with mythology.

During the past 40 years, he has turned to mythology and related stories frequently. So much so it's the single most important reoccurring theme in his work.

To say he's an artist who primarily draws upon the classics is inaccurate. He dives into myriad themes yet works that engage with ancient storytelling out number other motifs in his collection.

This repeated pattern often falls upon the shoulders of Sisyphus. Condemned to a life of fruitlessly pushing a heavy rock up a hill only to do it all over again is ripe with metaphors for a sculptor. Van Alstine presents us with a new twist on the old narrative with a series of about 200 Sisyphean sculptures since the first “Sisyphean Circle” in 2005.

While 20th century artists have primarily focused on the Sisyphean story as about torment and captivity, Van Alstine sees it in more uplifting terms. He turns to existentialist Albert Camus' essay The Myth of Sisyphus, which suggests the struggle, or journey is the most meaningful thing, not the result, and adhering to process is more important than the object itself.

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DROP #3 AMERICAN VISTAS: Life and Art of John Van Alstine" by Tim Kane
"Hirshhorn Museum and 'Brute Sculpture'"

JOHN VAN ALSTINE’s sculpture is discovered by the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., a major turning point.

In 1979, curator Howard Fox includes Van Alstine’s work in the “Brute Sculpture” section of the important Directions/79 survey exhibition that pinpointed key trends during a very tumultuous period in American sculpture.
By placing his work on the national stage for the first time, the exhibit was one of the major highlights of Van Alstine’s early career representing the culmination of the process to incorporate a realistic representation of natural forces in three-dimensional designs.

During the four years since Cornell, Van Alstine found a vocabulary expressing the potential energy of sculptural materials, often precariously balanced with the sense of drama and danger, moving from the realm of static form to actual in kinetic movement.

In 1980, the Hirshhorn Museum acquires “Nature of Stone I”, 1976, for its permanent collection. In 1981, it acquired “4th Beast of Daniel” along with several drawings.

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DROP #2 AMERICAN VISTAS: Life and Art of John Van Alstine" by Tim Kane
EARLY INFLUCENCES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS - MAINE COST and PRODUCTION POTERY

Maine is known for its shorelines with massive rocks jutting out as waves, often churned up by storms, making for dramatic scenery. It also was a major influence on the young artist John Van Alstine.
In 1973, the summer before graduating Kent State with a BFA, Van Alstine traveled to Kennebunkport, ME assisting fellow students David and Diane Jenkins in opening their pottery shop "The Good Earth". They went to Maine largely on a whim, David recalls. “We were like… hey, ‘let’s make some pots and why not in Kennebunkport…it was in the spirit of those days.”

After setting up shop, they learned about the market, Jenkins said, finding out what sold and what didn’t. "Working artistically with his hands and earning an income provided a sense of value for John Van Alstine. He was pretty quick to adapt to what sold and matched market demand, but also would commit time toward more sculptural, non-functional pieces".
Seven summers in Maine (1970-76) were hugely influential, both aesthetically and practicality. Van Alstine stated, "Being somewhat commercially successful selling pots, gave me the confidence that ... maybe I could actually make a living by creating" ... the rest is history.

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#1: "THE ACCICENT AT CORNELL"

Many people don't realize John Van Alstine's four-decades long sculpture owes much to an accident while he was a graduate student at Cornell University in the 1970s

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It was at this time, something unexpected happened: “I was working on the third “wedge” piece and was almost finished, so I propped it up and stepped back to take a final look from a distance. Suddenly it began to tip, falling away from me; I watched helplessly as the marble crashed to the floor-I was devastated. I walked around in a daze for what seemed like an hour."
“When I finally pulled myself together and started to look carefully at the scattered shards, the fresh, clean, crystalline surface of the broken areas caught my eye. It was like a light went off. I picked up a couple of the largest pieces and began to set them in angled positions to reveal the fragmented surfaces. “I am not sure I realized it fully then, but this seemingly unfortunate event was the beginning of something important.“

Van Alstine reassembles it on the table into a radically different sculpture. With jagged surfaces exposed, the resulting sculpture, two elements are pinned to a polished stainless-steel plate, precariously positioned, creating a cascade-like sensation. "Falling Stone", 1975 was the first work to have “broken” or “raw” surfaces that would later be a central element of his vernacular.
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