FALLING MAN

I suppose our town's best known 20th Century visual artist was Ernest Trova, https://etrova.org/home.html. He was, in a sense, a one-trick pony with endless, if creative, variations on a single theme, Falling Man. They are smooth, armless male figures, truncated cleanly at the shoulder like a mannequin. They often pitch forward but sometimes, like here, stand like Egyptian funerary figures. You can look at the web link if you want a precis on the subject. 

The art on display at Laumeier reminds me of the words of the poet Archibald MacLeish that a poem should not mean, but be. The essence here can be a challenge to the viewer.              

Ernest Trova

I finally made it out to Laumeier Sculpture Park on Sunday afternoon. In 1968, a rich woman left her large suburban estate to St. Louis County for the benefit of the public. In the following years, it became one of the most important outdoor sculpture spaces in the United States. I didn't get through all of it but I shot a nice sample. 

We start with St. Louis' most famous sculptor, the late Ernest Trova. This is an example of his iconic image, Falling Man, with his pot belly and slight hunchback, armless, lurching through space to an uncertain future. Most versions are sleek with completely smooth surfaces. This one has an unusual variation, appearing to be wrapped in bandages or even mummified. And yet it continues to stride across the park. 

TOMORROW: can you make art about some of the worst decisions in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court?