SAM SPICZKA: Kubrick
Remick Sculpture Garden
Through May 2008
“[Stanley] Kubrick is one of my favorite directors. In his movies, the most rational plans of men always unravel due to a fundamentally chaotic, uncontrollable reality. With this sculpture, I tried to give physical form to that eternal struggle.”
Sam Spiczka
As life, human or otherwise, strives for the ideal, it is constantly confronted with reality and its imperfections. This struggle to adapt to the chaos of reality is where Spiczka finds inspiration for his work. Kubrick’s central form resembles a tree trunk chopped beyond its natural state into a pyramidal form with an equilateral triangle at its apex. This triangular motif is reflected in the trunk’s three rootlike legs and in the base of stacked wooden railroad ties. Like the triangle, Kubrick is a highly stable form that suggests upward movement and force. Yet within the sculpture’s momentum is an impedance: a large chain, inspired by an antique boat anchor, receding into (or emerging from) the base. The chain appears to be holding the sculpture down, denying its movement and defining the unending conflict between rationality and chaos.
Sam Spiczka was born and raised in rural Minnesota near St. Cloud. His first exposure to metalworking was at his family’s welding shop, where he credits his father for his sense of craftsmanship. Spiczka studied art and philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College, and he continues to research sculptural practices and observe the natural world for inspiration. Selected exhibitions include Augsburg College; Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer MN; DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln MA; Purdue University; and the Convergence International Art Festival, Providence RI.