Title: Soft Rime

Creator: John McCarty

Region: Rome

Date: 2012 (installed at Griffiss)

Description: John McCarty was born in Washington, DC and is a long time resident of Virginia. He received his MFA from Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, NY. His first one-man show was held art the Root Art Center of Hamilton College in 1969; other one person shows have been held in Germany, Pittsburgh, PA, Durham, NC, Baltimore, MD, and several in Washington, DC. His awards include a Fellowship from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and a Virginia Commission for the Arts Artists Fellowship. McCarty is currently an Associate Professor of Sculpture at the University of Maryland.

McCarty work is about ambiguity and he rarely directly explains his art. When asked about it, he has been known to reply with a poem –the essence of metaphor. He prefers to leave it up to the viewer to discover the magic of his work.

The material contradictions of Soft Rime: delicate steel mesh and solid glass blocks; fine wire supporting transparent solids; industrial objects that are transfigured by their surroundings are the essence of McCarty’s poetry.

McCarty’s was introduced to Sculpture Space in 1978 on a visit with John von Bergen who took him down to the studio."I spent a week in which I worked with an intensity and concentration I had never before experienced, and produced five pieces. Working at Sculpture Space was a great revelation to me. That first week, despite the leaks and the puddles on the floor, remains perhaps my most enlightening and concentrated sculptural experience. To be in a place that was all sculpture, all the time, with a generous and stimulating company of artists working intensely was an illuminating watershed in my profession."

Subject: Public art, Outdoor sculpture

Rights: © John McCarty 2012

(In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/)

Find out more:
http://www.sculpturespace.org/john-mccarty/

http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2011/12/griffiss_international_sculptu.html

http://www.griffissbusinesspark.com/park_map.asp?type=S&id=3

ID#: AO-00018

Location: (formerly) Griffiss International Sculpture Garden, Rome