ASHER DAVID KELMAN
30 Ft high sculpture of a gaff-rigged sailboat, moving in the wind, riding waves on beautiful waves, inspired by the curls on Venus in the painting, “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli.
Such sail boats are a tradition on the Atlantic Coast in Maine and Massachussetts, where even teenagers can sail out on the ocean. In event of very rough winds, just one rope releases the single gaff-rigged sail and the boat is now able to ride out the raging storm.
When two people meet, we trade ideas in a conversation. Perhaps one person needs something or wants to make a proposal. How does such a that transaction proceed.
Here, the artist presents a conversation: a man making a proposal to a woman he likes. Each person expresses, as least in part, what they really want to achieve, but presents that in the post attractive way. The person listening has to hear out the other person but also to try to determine what’s left unsaid.So a conversation is actually a struggle. Here, one person, might have power and resources and the other, for example, beauty and self-worth. The latter has to be acknowledged, accommodated, nurtured not merely bought! The male might boast his resources, ideas, dreams, wishes, wants and accomplishments. The woman, hanging on his every word looks for nuances that reveal a character capable of commitment and irrevocable sharing. The conversation is not what’s said, but what is expressed and discovered despite that actual meanings of the particular words
The one parson might be looking for immediate advantage. The other may want longer term commitment.
Out of a good conversation, each person, in the end should know the other’s full intent and reliability. Out of that comes the possibility of agreements that outlasts todays transient needs.
In this work, sensuously curved stainless steel tubes form both a man and a woman. The former has a flamboyant main of hair made of a spiral of blue glass. The woman has a receptive open arc of curved steel with yellow glass ovals representing her supply of eggs to be fertilized. That’s what women uniquely posses, a reproductive system that invests all its energy on one pregnancy at a time with high risk to herself. The male, by contrast, is free to move off and thats why understanding true long term intent is so much more important for the biological woman than the interested male seeking to bond with her.
At the summit of Junipero Avenue, behind the single artillery gun of World War II defense, is the location for a water moat surrounded monumental public artwork standing 30 Ft high.
Its made up of curved open arched ribbons and tubes of mirror-polished and glossy red stainless steel. Vertical Modigliani-like skinny forms congregate between the curved tubes and ribbons.
It shows a convoluted path of life, round, (feminine) meeting a flamboyant ribbon, (the swagger of men as new fathers or when they shoot a deer)!
This major work is meant as a favorite location to sit, relax and meet friends. There’s a water fall pouring from the central very large stone sculpture platform bathed in water, falling to an impressive surrounding protective moat with lily pads and ducks.
The crown of the Sculpture Garden: An impressive monumental public plaza, 30ft high, with sculpture, children frocking in water and breathtaking views of the Pacific. This will become a grand destination location that will be known world wide: Celebrating our love for imagination, art and pushing the boundaries of what magnificent ideas we can each make happen inspired by reflections in water of children playing & the views at sunset though lit wheat stalks of the fiery sunsets over the Pacific Ocean. Above in Bluff Park a new spacious ultramodern Fine Art Exhibition Building is imagined with parking for the entire beach; below, adaptable space for art shows, Weddings and other celebrations to be rented out by the City.
What is feminine? Many folk today have diverse opinions. The artist seeks to pay homage to the powerful role of the human female in the biological continuation of all human endeavor. Because there is, today, no longer an absolute necessity for any woman to commit her body to nine months of pregnancy, we are in danger of under recognizing the existential necessity of new births and therefore the role of the woman as life-giver.
A man can contribute towards a new life by his donation of gametes, but the woman has to totally commit her body to the creation and sustenance of that new child. We have to ask ourselves, how can we encourage women to take on this burden when gender equality allows them, to pursue rewarding lives in business, trades and professions. Perhaps society has to provide a security framework to recognize and support these women who are still willing to raise children to be the next cohort of contributes to our ever demanding social needs.
On the highest ocean side of Junipero Avenue, we propose to locate a 20 ft high place-marking keys-tone sculpture in homage to the women in our lives: mothers, sisters, aunts, co-workers and friends.
The architecturally imposing reflective teardrop structure represents a link between each of us, our brothers and sisters and parents, and also the elements that permit life on earth. Inside this monumental spacious dome, we will be able to enjoy regular artwork, oil paintings and work in fragile materials, that cannot withstand the direct light of the son or harsh salt air. This will be a public art sanctuary, but with a spectacular visual advantage of a 360 degree view of the sky and Pacific Coast! Lighting will be subdued and adjusted to be optimal for works on display to create a sanctuary for visitors to connect with the art, meditate, muse and share the unique experience with others. In addition to housing art, it can also serve as a sheltered public venue for music and performance.
This is a concept of a “magic portal” to the future. Going through this archway, we imagine a new world of opportunity for each of this family. We only see the small suitcase case of the man and his right arm. They trust and follow him. We hope that their life in our midst will be welcoming. It represents our conviction that we succeed if we commit to opening paths for others to learn, grow and earn a fulfilling place in far richer society for us all.
The sculpture garden will be enhanced by a covered hillside lookouts with tables and seats to relax, dine or celebrate. The curved roof with provide protection from the sun by day, a viewpoint for the rest of the sculpture garden. Importantly, they’re perfect sites for enjoying the amazing sunsets. These can allow views of the beach, gulls, whales, The “Queen Mary”, tankers, sailboats and commercial traffic to and from the Port of Long Beach. In addition they will catch sky flyers floating by. Diners will have much to enjoy from their unique hillside vantage points.
Another simple derivative of the twist-able“Rubik's “Snake” offers to passers with "Greetings and salutations for a great day".
This work serves as a perfect location for couples and families to take pictures as moments of their visit. Two facing giant mirror-polished “breaking waves” meet each other. Those are facts. But there’s more! The purpose of art is to create wonder! This is inspired by the biblical tale of the Exodus from Egypt, with the miracle of safe dry land between towering waves.
The ballerina is one of 4 sculptures based on the simple, 24 segment “Rubik’s Snake”, adjustable to nu- merous novel shapes. Here, gracious form is the reward of personal devotion and stoic effort, day in day out, delivering on ones own passion! These are the same ingredients of successes people have made of their varied talents and opportunities.
Adam holds the globe. In Greek culture, Atlas, as a God, stood tall supporting the flat earth, the totality and center of everything solid that exists besides stars in the sky. But it’s far more complex a situation than that. We’re not the entirety of the universe tended by Gods of those ancient Greeks. Instead, our planet is a rare round blue spec in just one galaxy of trillions in endless space. Le Mano De Adam illustrates this rare planet’s importance to us. Its ecosystems mutually support diverse interdependent miracles of life.
The work started with the concept of a jailed migrant at the border. However, I realized it was not needed to show that pain just the hope possessed by youngsters, confident of a better future. Here, a girl and boy plant and water bamboo shoots that will one day be powerful enough to break down “jails” and liberate the oppressed. This demonstrates our trust that problems we cannot solve immediately, the new generation face and find solutions. It is after all, the education of children with good values that provides our certainty of a better future for all.
We experience the consequence of investing generously in education. By instilling knowledge, skills, and values in the young, we provide an engine for societal development and equity. It’s these children whose tiny bamboo shoots have grown meters high, that guarantee our continued freedom. That growth demolished any “jail walls” allowing the imagined migrant to be united into loving arms.
“The Gateway” shows a sequence of open arches. There’s a very fine cooling mist in the summer. It provides spaces with relief from the sun during the day. Evenings, it’s lit with romantic light welcoming folk for a leisurely stroll. This work signifies the transitions or portals in life between stages of our journeys, childhood to teen, then to young go for thrills young adult, to marriage and one new challenge and adventure after another, until future is seen in the eyes of grandchildren. That’s the last “portal”.
Celebrates her independence from masculine measures of worth, rank, and power. Is the woman really made from a spare part of a man? Could a woman be another parallel, but different kind of creature, exchanging gifts and devotion with her mate of choice?
The Long Beach Museum of Art rear location abuts on the hillside above Junipero Avenue. This provides a fascinating opportunity to have an engaging live water feature that straddles the sculpture garden and Museum of art borders. An ideal option would be a formation of Corten rusted steel in the form of giant rocks over which the water would cascade. It turns out that Corten can be readily bonded by welding to stainless steel. So certain upper surfaces can be highlighted with stainless steel so the waterfall would be very dimensional and would sparkle in the sections flowing over stainless steel. The location will be alive with sunset lights, viewable from both the Museum of Art and the Hillside from Junipero Avenue.
An abstraction for imagining things anyone is to free-make with simple things at home: cards, ribbons, glue, and chalk. This simple structure was formed from a necklace sprayed with glue and dusted with white chalk and scanned by 3D with just an iPhone and then decorated as an example of how one can be empowered to use everyday things one already owns and represent them in a new way to intrigue others as art.
For eons, since the creation of planet earth, iron has been delivered by meteorites in the form of rocks with pyrite crystals. I am enthralled by such deposits as they are mistaken for genuine veins of gold, “Fools Gold”. But pyrite tarnishes with exposure to air and has to be polished every week or so to keep its gold. I have made giant 10 ft pyrite-like eggs with parts of the surface missing to review the same crystal geometry, but in spectacular mirrored stainless steel.
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