Drawings

For this assignment, you will visit the UCLA Sculpture Garden and spend time with two works that have recently been positioned in confrontation and dialog: Auguste Rodin’s Walking Man and Richard Serra’s T.E.U.C.L.A. The ensuing project will be to compare and contrast the two works to elucidate their meaning(s).

Again, this assignment begins with the activity of drawing. The first component of your assignment is to make two compositional sketches of the works, one drawing of each. Use pencil and paper; charcoal pencil is acceptable, pen and ink however is not. You should not use lined paper or notebook paper. The challenge of such a task is that sculpture is not a one-sided object: You must choose one vantage point from which to sketch each sculpture, and this vantage point should be chosen with an eye to its importance to your reading of the individual work’s form. Drawings are to be submitted with your final written papers.

Again this is NOT a research paper; you will, however, want to familiarize yourself with the account of both artists given in the textbook by Rosalind Krauss. You may also, if you wish and feel it is productive, bring in observations of other sculptures in the Sculpture Garden if they help clarify your description of the Rodin and Serra, as further points of comparison and contrast.
Clearly identify any references to other sculptures.

Only AFTER having analyzed the form of the two works visually via drawing them, write a 4-5 page, typed, and double-spaced formal analysis of the works. Pay close attention in your written description to all the elements of formal organization: composition and the arrangement of volumes and voids; massing and the play of light and shadow; orientation toward the space in which the sculptures exist and the ground on which they are positioned. You will want to try and account for the similarities and differences between the two works. What is the mode of production of each work (i.e., how were they made)? How is this carried over into your visual experience of the works? How does each work define itself in relation to its medium? What is specifically sculptural about each? Do they share a single model of sculpture or define different models of sculpture? How do the sculptures relate to the human body and to the dimensions of space and time? You should use your formal analysis to propose an interpretation of both works and the possible meanings they create for their viewers.