Creation Myth by Tom Otterness

Two of the largest sculptures in Creation Myth at the edge of the Centennial Sculpture Garden facing North Goodman Street

Creation Myth is a series of limestone and bronze sculptures created by Tom Otterness for the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG)'s Centennial Sculpture Park in 2012.

Description

All of the sculptures that are a part of Creation Myth stand on the brick pathing that leads people from the garden to the MAG, meaning that people can freely walk around and in between the pieces. Clustered in two circular groupings, all the sculptures within this series vary in size and motion, but all depict similar humanoid figures made out of simple geometric shapes using only bronze and limestone.

The sculpture group that resides at the furthest point from the MAG by the crosswalk consists of two large figures that stand face-to-face opposite each other. The first is a bronze sculpture which stands upon a short, square limestone pedestal. The figure’s body proportions are a little unnatural in comparison to the real human body and can easily be broken down into equal thirds. The bottom contains the feet, constructed of rounded triangular prisms that take up half of this section, and cylindrical legs that connect to the base of a cone. The bottom of the cone starts the middle third and continues to fill the entire section tapering slightly at the top. Just underneath this taper protrude a cylindrical arm on each side of the torso. Upon the taper of the cone sits a perfect sphere that acts as the head, filling up the final top third of the figure. Carved into the part of the sphere that faces the opposing figure are two dots with a horizontal line underneath which, when looked at all together, resemble a simple face. Atop the back right of the sphere is a short, wide cone that acts as a little hat. The figure is standing still, but doesn’t look stiffly posed. Its right leg is poised slightly in front of the left, with its right hand holding a hammer loosely at its side and the left hand a chisel behind its back, gazing at the figure in front of it.

That opposing sculpture stands on a similar limestone base of the same surface area but instead of just acting as a base, the back half continues up to the top left of the figure. Rather than standing independently, this figure is built into the back of the base, as if the entire structure were carved from one large piece of limestone. It is constructed similarly to the opposing figure, but its torso is composed of a sphere rather than a cone and the hat topping its head a rectangular prism. Additionally, unlike the other figure, its pose is very rigid with hands stationed directly at its sides not suggesting any type of movement. At the base of this figure is a miniature version of the bronze sculpture, arms with tools in hand raised against the limestone, as if carving the large sculpture it stands upon.

Throughout both sculptures, Otterness makes use of a lot of curves to form shape and structure. Even the ‘straight’ or ‘pointy’ forms like the hammer and chisel feel soft or rounded in nature. This consistent use of curved features make the figures seem unassuming in nature and easily approachable which compliments the functionality of its placement in the sculpture garden. The composition of the sculptures inherently encourage active movement by observers as they would have to change their gaze and position to see every part of the artwork. From looking up to see the faces of both tall figures to bending down to view the detail on the tiny bronze figure, the work is only fully visible when explored rather than just gazed at. It is from a closer view that one would realize that the carved parts of the limestone, which seem smooth from afar, are covered with short sets of parallel lines. These markings repeat adjacent to each other sporadically at random intervals and orientations, likely a result of the tool the artist used to carve into the stone. As a result, the texture of the limestone sculptures is naturally rough and bumpy, which contrasts the perfect smoothness of the bronze used in other sculptures. These different textures emphasize the differences between the ‘finished’ and seemingly work in progress sculpture.

Symbolism and Theme

Selected from a group of fifty artists to create a piece for the MAG’s sculpture garden, Tom Otterness conceptualized the sculpture series Creation Myth as a parody of the Pygmalion myth. Though the initial story tells of a man who carves a woman out of ivory and brings her to life with a kiss, Otterness’ recreation challenges the idea of those gender roles by implying that the sculptor is the woman through the use of the basic shapes society associates with the binary genders. Otterness further exemplifies this female-empowering series by alluding to Rochester native, Susan B. Anthony, and her contributions to the anti-slavery and suffragette movement. By introducing this social commentary on gender’s relation to societal power dynamics through the use of his signature ‘cartoon-like’ figures, Otterness allows for people to engage with a heavy subject matter in a way that is easier to swallow. That being said, Otterness has acknowledged that the nature of public art eliminates some opportunity for artists to convey their exact statement behind a piece leading people to be more likely to take away their own ideas from the work instead. Rather than describing this as a negative, Otterness instead remarked that he thinks that the meaning every individual takes away from the work on their own is the piece’s “true meaning.”

Material and Creation

Being one of the largest scale projects he’d ever done at the time, Otterness created the sculptures with the intention that it would be climbed, played upon, and viewed from any angle by the people who walk by. He exemplified this through modeling it in CAD the way it would be observed in space and carving out textural nuance that people could only notice when feeling the sculptures with their own hands. Unlike some of the projects he had worked on before, Otterness made the choice to use limestone as a sculptural material for one of the first times, pushing him to carve onsite to create the works rather than just setting them up. Having used a regular carving tool set, the texture and lines of the this process being seen when one looks close to the figures. The statues that were not limestone were cast out of bronze, a material that Otterness is famous for using throughout many of his works, in a foundry and brought onsite.

Controversy

Despite being a world famous artist, there is a lot of pushback against having Otterness' work in public areas that hold status due to his 1977 work Shot Dog Film in which Otterness shot and killed a dog on film. This act not only incited an investigation into Otterness by the Animal Protection Institute, but also protests against his installations.