Skip to main content

Image / Standing: detail view of bronze figure dripping water, with tiny representations of …

Have a question about this item?

Item information. View source record on contributor's website.

Title
Standing: detail view of bronze figure dripping water, with tiny representations of starfish configured on the torso as the constellation Virgo
Creator
Cohen, Becky (American photographer, contemporary)
Smith, Kiki (American sculptor and printmaker, born 1954)
Contributor
Beebe, Mary Livingstone (American, born 1940)
Date Created and/or Issued
1998
Contributing Institution
UC San Diego, The UC San Diego Library
Collection
Stuart Collection Photographs
Rights Information
Under copyright
Constraint(s) on Use: This work is protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of this work beyond that allowed by "fair use" requires written permission of the UC Regents. Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Library. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Library program having custody of the work.
Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.
Rights Holder and Contact
Cohen, Becky (American photographer, contemporary)
Description
Architecture and City Planning
Sculpture and Installations
Garden and Landscape
Smith's vision of the body as a fluid vehicle for intimating life - and death - suggested the School of Medicine as fertile territory for Standing, her Stuart Collection project. From the beginning her ideas evolved in relation to the site between the Medical Teaching Facility and the Basic Sciences Building amidst eucalyptus trees, sloping lawns and curving pathways. Smith's original idea of a figure on a classical column soon evolved to become a figure on a cast tree trunk. A dead tree was located on campus, removed and delicately cast at San Diego Pre-Cast Concrete. So refined is the casting that it has captured the network of beetle trails that once lay under the thin eucalyptus bark -- a feature that originally drew Smith's interest. The paths of these insects, which may have played a role in the tree's death, evoke notions of veins and capillaries; the trunk's artery-like roots reach into the water below. Stripped of its bark and exposed through time and decay, it is remarkable in the way that it calls out the live eucalyptus around the site, thus embracing - even composing - the entire area. Pathways were reconfigured and added by the artist to extend the arterial imagery.
UC San Diego Library, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175 (https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/contact)
Medical Teaching Facility: University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, California, United States
Type
image
Format
Bronze figure with cast concrete column, rocks, and water; bronze figure: 4 feet 10 inches high; concrete tree: 12 feet 6 inches tall; pool: 13 feet in diameter
Form/Genre
nudes (representations)
casts (sculpture)
sculpture gardens
outdoor sculpture
site-specific works
public art
fountains
public sculpture
courtyards
sculpture (visual work)
paths
bronzes (objects)
landscape architecture
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb0206358v
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Asteroidea
Monuments
Heads
Stars
Feminism
Faces
Death
Columns (architectural elements)
Contemporary
Virgo cluster
Human body
Anatomy
Women artists
Constellations in art
American
University of California, San Diego--History
Nudes (representations)
Casts (sculpture)
Sculpture gardens
Outdoor sculpture
Site-specific works
Public art
Fountains
Public sculpture
Courtyards
Sculpture (visual work)
Paths
Bronzes (objects)
Landscape architecture

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.

Explore related content on Calisphere: