September 20, 2006
Blownin’ in the Wind.
Outdoor sculpture is a wonderful thing. Amazingly, we often take it for granted or just forget that the sculpture looming above us is something special. As I was taking the above photo of a 46 foot sculpture outside the Porter Square T stop in Cambridge, people kept shooting me bemused looks. First they would look at my camera, then up at the sculpture, and then back at me with a “why are you taking a picture of that?” expression on their faces. Porter Square’s giant, red, spinning wind sculpture has become so familiar that it doesn’t even seem like art anymore!
“Gift of the Wind,” which was created in 1983 by the Japanese sculptor Susumu Shingu (b. Japan, 1937), consists of three giant red metal wings that shift with the movement of the wind as the sculpture turns and tumbles in different directions. Shingu is a world-renowned kinetic artist and has designed wind sculptures for cities worldwide. You can find Shingu’s work at two other sites in Boston: the New England Aquarium and Logan International Airport.
If you’re not in Boston you can explore Shingu’s website (in English & Japanese) from his 2000 - 2001 sculpture project “Wind Caravan - Observation of Our Planet “:
An attempt to find out how we can live in harmony with nature and what is true happiness through artistic activities and cultural exchange with local people….Wind activated sculptures by Susumu Shingu will travel around the world in one year and a half, visiting six of the most characteristic natural environments on the Earth.
Are you in Paris? You can see Shingu’s current work at Galerie Jeanne-Bucher. If not, you can do what I do — look at the photos of Shingu’s recent work on artnet.
Garden variety North American Nomad. Born in the Midwest; lived and worked on the West Coast and abroad; studied in the South. Recently spotted putting down roots in New England.