Shattered Glass
THE ART OF BARRY LE VA
Barry Le Va creates sculptures such as “One Edge, Two Corners; On Center Shattered” by dropping heavy weights onto arranged panes of glass. One would assume that the resulting aesthetics would be largely the product of happenstance.
Despite their chaotic appearance, however, such arrangements are meticulously orchestrated. Many of Le Va’s works are, in fact, planned in drawings ahead of time (perhaps a carryover from the artist’s initial education as an architect)10. While the particular snowflake of fissures and cracks produced in the glass is unique to every work, Le Va has left as little as possible up to chance.
One Edge, Two Corners; On Center Shattered by Barry Le Va. (Variation 13, Within the Series of Layered Pattern Acts) 10" by 84" by 96" (25.5 cm by 214 cm by 244 cm) glass (28 sheets, 8 layers of 4 varying sizes) 1968/2007 COURTESY: MARY BOONE GALLERY, NEW YORK. (MBG#9707)
Still, it would be unwise to accuse the artist of being overly fastidious. The performance piece Impact Run—Energy Drain, for instance, involved the artist running back and forth across a gallery, hurtling himself against opposing walls as he did. Reportedly, Le Va had resolved to simply continue running until he was physically unable; the footsteps become increasingly belabored throughout the hour-and-a-half-long auditory recording.
The piece depicted herein, while not as physically taxing, nevertheless involves a similar principle. The creation observed is the end result of chance meeting premeditation at the point of collision. —DJS