Bird in Space I

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Photograph by David Revette.
Bird in Space I
Photograph by David Revette.
Artist/Maker (American, born 1968)
Date2006
MediumAluminum
DimensionsOverall: 34 in. × 7 1/2 in. × 6 in. (86.4 × 19.1 × 15.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of E. M. Bakwin, Class of 1950
Object number2012.3.6
On view
DescriptionThis brilliantly polished, manipulated aluminum sculpture was created from a B-17 airplane propeller. Rob Fischer typically incorporates reclaimed materials into his artwork, infusing remnants from the past with contemporary relevance. Here, Fischer’s use of an airplane propeller originating from a famed American World War II bomber invites the viewer to see the potential beauty of a once-discarded object that symbolizes one of the most difficult chapters in modern history. Both formally and in its title, the sculpture references artist Constantin Brancusi’s Bird in Space series, which was produced between 1923 and 1940. Brancusi famously captured the essence of a bird’s flight as an abstraction—without using conventional representational imagery (SOURCE: Wellin Museum permanent collection label, Summer 2016).
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Additional Details

Exhibition History 2012-13
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Affinity Atlas," October 6, 2012 - April 7, 2013 (brochure).
Provenance 2012: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College), by gift of E.M. Bakwin;
?: E.M. Bakwin, by purchase from Cohan and Leslie Gallery, New York;
?: Cohan and Leslie Gallery, from the artist.
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