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Three Squares
Artist
Linda Ridgway
(American, born 1947)
Date2001
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 108 × 26 × 26 in. (274.32 × 66.04 × 66.04 cm)
Credit LineCollection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Gift of Anne and John Marion
Object number2002.21
Status
Not on viewCopyright© Linda Ridgway
Category
Label TextLinda Ridgway’s Three Squares, 2001, is a cast bronze sculpture of a grapevine root that the artist dug out of the ground. The root forms a single, delicate line that hangs against the gallery wall, coiling at the base. The line is broken by three bronze squares at its top, middle, and bottom, carefully infused to create a subtle interruption. This piece is the first of Ridgway’s sculptures to combine an organic form with geometric ones. Her intent was to create something that nature would not, but put together as if it had occurred naturally. The idea of geometric shapes coalescing with a natural form is a metaphor for the cycle of life, especially the balance between man and nature, which is an ongoing theme for the artist.
Three Squares, like much of Ridgway’s work, is cast directly from a grapevine root rather than a mold, making it a unique bronze. In fact, she casts some of the thinnest and most fragile materials available—natural and manmade, from spools of yarn to twigs. To create Three Squares, Ridgway completely obliterated the vine; high temperatures reduced it to ashes. Yet, because bronze is one of the most durable of manmade materials, lasting thousands of years, the artist also immortalizes what she destroys. In Three Squares, Ridgway’s artistic methods and sensibilities come together to create a single, organically shaped, apparently fragile sculptural line.
Three Squares, like much of Ridgway’s work, is cast directly from a grapevine root rather than a mold, making it a unique bronze. In fact, she casts some of the thinnest and most fragile materials available—natural and manmade, from spools of yarn to twigs. To create Three Squares, Ridgway completely obliterated the vine; high temperatures reduced it to ashes. Yet, because bronze is one of the most durable of manmade materials, lasting thousands of years, the artist also immortalizes what she destroys. In Three Squares, Ridgway’s artistic methods and sensibilities come together to create a single, organically shaped, apparently fragile sculptural line.