Serpentine Winged, 1981, Bronze, 19"H Collection of Oakton Community College |
Wings February - March 2001 Curator: Nathan Harpaz
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Serpentine Winged, 1981, Bronze, 19"H Collection of Oakton Community College |
Wings February - March 2001 Curator: Nathan Harpaz
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| Thirty
years ago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City exhibited a retrospective
of sculptures by Richard Hunt. The front cover of the catalog for this
exhibition featured Arachne , the first Hunt sculpture purchased
by MOMA in 1957. The formal execution of this sculpture reveals that the
artistic direction of Hunt was established early in his career: mythological
references, elements of surrealism and a wings motif were major influences
from the beginning. This exhibition at the William A. Koehnline Gallery
explores Hunt’s use of the wings motif from early works to the present.
In his earliest works, Hunt represented wings for their actual function of flying, but over time, they evolved into abstract elements, appearing primarily at the top of a sculpture and resembling bird’s wings, branches, horns or flames that erupted from a narrow base. Historically, wings symbolize spirituality, imagination and thought. The Greeks portrayed love and victory as winged figures, and wings appear on the tops of helmets worn by some of their heroes. For Christians, wings symbolize the light of the sun of justice that illuminates the mind of the righteous. Universally, wings symbolize the human soul in flight. |
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