New York Art@Site www.artatsite.com Mark di Suvero Joie de Vivre
Artist:

Mark di Suvero

Title:

Joie de Vivre

Year:
1998
Adress:
Zuccotti Park
Website:
The happiness to live and be together
This artwork can be read in a glance: some red legs stitch upward and downward and express a feeling of merriment and maybe even of victory.
If you get closer, you see more. Two tripots apear to fold together. It seams that the one on top is slightly bigger than the one below. The legs are wide apart, the arms are wide spread and seem to celebrate a victory.
The joints are extraordinary and present. Around the ends a circle is placed, the legs are joined by rings, between the two tripots run perfect wide circles. This are joints between steel constructions which don’t show a temporary feeling; this is a solid and convincing sense of long-term happiness.
The tripots make me also think of two acrobats. One acrobat stitches up and the other below. Here the happiness of being together is expressed. Because a solid joint between the tripots is emphasised, Mark di Suvero utters the luck because of the connection between people.
Joie de Vivre by Mark di Suvero is to me a convincing statue that expresses the certainty of happiness to live and be together.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com

Het geluk van het leven en samenzijn
Dit kunstwerk laat zich in één oogopslag lezen: een aantal rode benen die omhoog en die omlaag steken, drukken een gevoel uit van vrolijkheid en misschien zelfs van overwinning.
Als je dichterbij komt, zie nóg meer. Er blijken twee tripots in elkaar gevouwen te zijn. Volgens mij is de bovenste iets groter dan de onderste. De benen staan stevig breed uiteen, de armen zijn wijd gespreid en lijken een overwinning te vieren.
De verbindingen zijn bijzonder en opvallend. Rondom het uiteinde loopt een cirkel, de benen zijn verbonden met ringen, tussen de tripots ligt een perfecte brede kring. Het zijn verbindingen tussen stalen balken die een statisch gevoel oproepen. Daardoor wordt niet een tijdelijk gevoel wordt uitgedrukt; dit is een solide en overtuigt gevoel van langdurig geluk.
De tripots doen mij ook aan twee acrobaten denken. De ene acrobaat steekt omhoog en de andere omlaag. Hier wordt het geluk van het samenzijn uitgedrukt. Door een stevige verbinding tussen de tripots, benadrukt Mark di Suvero het geluk in de verbinding tussen mensen.
Joie de Vivre van Mark di Suvero is voor mij een overtuigend beeld dat de zekerheid uitdrukt van het geluk in het leven en in het samenzijn.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com

Compared with other works
The artwork Joie de Vivre by Mark di Suvero makes use of practical components (structural steel), it expresses a sense of joy or even victory in a convincing way.

The statue Berlin by Matschinksy-Denninghoff (Berlin, picture 1, more information) refers to the unification of East- and West-Berlin on a gentle way. This is a powerful artwork with multiple and important meanings referring to a crucial historical moment. It will remain meaningful because of the multiple possible ways to interpret the artwork.

As the title Kiss by Jeroen Henneman (Amsterdam, picture 2, more information) suggests two people meet each other in a loving way. Because the forms are specific, this can only refer to this kind of specific happenings. That’s way the artwork don’t have to power to give meaning to other kind of experiences.

Grosser Würfel is another work by Brigitte and Martin Matschinsky-Denninghoff (Berlin, picture 3, more information) which shows how strong the visual language is of the couple. Here, the round shape is combined with a cube. This minimalist element is in conjunction with embracing forms. This artwork evokes in me the feeling of cherishing something precious.

Although this artwork by Dennis Oppenheimer is entitled Engagement (Hong Kong, picture 4, more information), I think this artwork rather indicates of two people with a similar nature that are next to each other instead of connected with each other.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com

www.art-nerd.com:
His work at Storm King seems more effective to me- the juxtaposition of the bright steel against the lush rolling hills of the park…ahhhh kinda idyllic. The contrast is what really makes the piece work. But in the cityscape, the 70 foot Cor-ten sculpture just reminds me of the endless construction in the area. It was moved to Zuccotti Park in 2006 from the Holland Tunnel rotary- a location that made the piece look a little better (on that contrast theory), and was immortalized when Occupy Wall Street unfolded around it.
But really, the construction site-comparison makes sense. Before di Suvero became an artist, he worked as a construction worker- and was in a scary elevator accident that left him a paraplegic. The traumatizing accident changed him for life, and even though he miraculously re-learned to walk, it served as the inspiration for his life’s work as a sculptor. That said, he was also the first sculptor to use a crane as a sculptor’s tool.

www.wikipedia.org:
Marco Polo "Mark" di Suvero (born September 18, 1933 in Shanghai, China) is an abstract expressionist sculptor and 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient.
Marco Polo di Suvero was born to Matilde Millo di Suvero and Vittorio di Suvero (later known as Victor E.), both Italians of Sephardic Jewish descent. Di Suvero was one of four children, the eldest being Victor di Suvero. His father was a naval attaché for the Italian government and the family resided in Shanghai until his father was relocated to Tientsin shortly after the birth of the family's last son in 1936.
With the outbreak of World War II, di Suvero immigrated to San Francisco, California with his family in February 1941 aboard the S.S. President Cleveland.
Di Suvero attended City College of San Francisco from 1953 to 1954, followed by the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1954 to 1955. He began creating sculptures while at UCSB after reflecting that he couldn't make an original contribution in his philosophy major. Under the guidance of Robert Thomas, who allowed di Suvero to take his sculpting course, his work began to flourish. He transferred to the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a B.A. in philosophy in 1957.
His early works were large outdoor pieces that incorporated wooden timbers from demolition buildings, tires, scrap metal and structural steel. This exploration has transformed over time into a focus on H-beams and heavy steel plates. Many of the pieces contain sections that are allowed to swing and rotate giving the overall forms a considerable degree of motion. He prides himself on his hands-on approach to the fabrication and installation of his work. Di Suvero pioneered the use of a crane as a sculptor's working tool.
His style is associated with the abstract expressionism movement, but directly evokes the spirit of the Russian post-revolution constructivism. Constructivism is strongly associated with concepts of an utopian socialist reconstruction, but came crashing down when the Stalin and Hitler empires failed. Di Suvero is the first artist post-war to revive the constructivist movement. The sculptures can be touched, and they are resistant enough to be climbed on.