Sculpture

Mel Kendrick's wooden sculpture has been seen as a reaction against minimalism, an attempt to regain sculpture's history by reinventing the figure and incorporating aspects of such early modernist movements as cubism, futurism and constructivism.But his work can be looked at in another way, too, and the current exhibit of sculpture and (something new for him) very large drawings at Grimaldis Gallery suggests such a different approach.In addition to reclaiming history, these works appear to argue for 20th-century abstraction, the ability to express anything that any other period can express.

I AM NOT a Philistine. I don't play for that team. They tried to sign me as a free agent, after my Scientology years, but I refused. The last thing I want to be is a narrow-minded person who is regarded as indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values. I defended George Sugarman's colorful Baltimore Federal in front of the courthouse on Lombard Street, even though a judge called it "a plane crash." I appreciated the BSO's performance of Alban Berg's Chamber Concerto for piano, violin and 13 winds - even though it sounded like a NASCAR pileup inside the Meyerhoff.

Jon Isherwood and John Ruppert, two of the three sculptors in this month's Grimaldis show, investigate relationships between the natural and the man-made worlds.Isherwood takes huge pieces of rock and, by smoothing out sides, slicing through them or creating interior spaces, suggests man's aspirations and ambitions, with references to both past and future.His "Guardian," with its naturally rough sloping side and its smoothed-down vertical side punctuated by a mouth-like slit, reminds us of the mysterious stone sculptures of Easter Island -- not just because it looks a little like one, which it does, but because its quiet monumentality suggests an icon, an object of reverence, a reflection of the human desire for more than this earthly existence.

TO CREATE A peaceful world, we must encourage peaceful actions in our children and teach them how to resolve their conflicts without violence. Such was the message of a conference at Carroll Community College on Thursday night and of a sculpture known as the "Peace Piece," which was created at Art in the Park on Saturday. Both events were organized by Barbara Weber, who, as director of Main Street Early Learning Center in Westminster, sees firsthand how children younger than age 5 interact with one another and resolve their disputes.

Some artists have a tendency to repeat themselves, but not Allyn Massey. She always has something fresh to say, which is definitely the case with her "Poke Box" in Galerie Francoise's current sculpture show.It's a simple enough piece at first glance -- a chevron shape in steel attached to the wall, with a black sheet of rubber hanging from it. A row of holes has been drilled into the chevron shape, and from one projects a several-inch-long metal rod.That's all, but it adds up to a lot. There's geometry here, but also sensual pleasure in the contrast of solid steel and almost liquid rubber.

LOS ANGELES -- The oldest and largest architectural sculpture yet discovered from the Mayan civilization has been found by a University of California at Los Angeles archaeologist in the Guatemalan site called Nakbe.The massive head of the bird-god Itzam-Ye was sculpted on the side of one of the first pyramids built in Nakbe and later mysteriously hidden from view by a stone-and-earth terrace. The head is 34 feet wide by 16 feet high and carved from stone and covered with painted stucco.It dates from around 300 B.C., "about 200 years earlier than most of the other known examples of similar sculptures," UCLA archaeologist Richard Hansen said.

BEIJING -- At first glance it seemed like a sure ticket to a fat commission: a big sculpture to adorn the entrance of the Beijing Hilton.But when Towson State University professor Jim Paulsen was offered the project, the promised reward was something other than cash: a paid trip to China, a lecture tour of five cities and the opportunity to be the first foreigner to design a public sculpture in Beijing in the 45-year history of the People's Republic of...

When Susan Luery competed for the right to sculpt the Babe Ruth statue at Camden Yards, she didn't know much about pro baseball and had never been to a game. Just before earning the commission, she met Hall of Fame player Reggie Jackson and was later told that he was nicknamed "Mr. October." "What calendar does he pose for?" she asked. Yet by the time the16-foot Babe's Dream was unveiled in 1998, Luery had researched his life and persona, and could even recite his baseball stats. A former Northwest Baltimore resident who now lives in Hingham, Mass.

Everyone has heard a theory on why the chicken crossed the road. But a real stumper would be why a 7-foot pink poodle will trek through mud, water and the streets of Baltimore? The answer arrives today in the form of the ninth annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. This year, the American Visionary Art Museum is challenging about 40 Kinetinauts, artists-turned-pilots, to navigate vehicular moving sculptures like the poodle, named "Fifi," through a 15-mile course downtown. The most coveted prize is the Grand East Coast National Mediocre Champion title, given to the sculpture that finishes smack dab in the middle of the race.

The components of a John Van Alstine sculpture are deceptively simple. Large, rough-hewn slabs of granite are connected to each other with found steel objects. At times, the massive slabs balance precariously; at others, they recline in lyric serenity. Their economy of expression seems a deliberate abjuration of the overwhelming barrage of styles and techniques characteristic of visual art in our time.While an exhibit of new and recent pieces (most dated 1992) opening today at the C. Grimaldis Gallery certainly reinforces that impression, it is clear the artist's imagination is both subtle // and complex.