One sunny afternoon in December 2004, Charles Long and his assistant dragged one of his sculptures through a river on a shopping cart, then sat on the grass, had a picnic and watched the birds poop on it. "And it was finished," Long said.
The piece is now on display in the David Winton Bell Gallery, part of "More Like a Dream Than a Scheme," an exhibit featuring the latest works from the Los Angeles, Calif. native and professor of art at the University of California - Riverside.
Students, faculty and members of the public packed the List Art Center auditorium Friday evening to hear Long speak at the opening of the exhibition. The 47-year-old artist was pleasantly surprised by the favorable response, opening his lecture with an admission that he "had only expected no more than 12 people to show up."
Long said his earlier pieces were more evocative of the body, flesh and sensory pleasures, often created while he was "wrapped up in mind games" and complex psychology. He described his latest work as the product of "real experience," making them more "intuitive and poetic."
The collection - a series of 23 freestanding assemblages and suspended sculptures - seeks to create a spatial environment in which the play of light and shadows elicits the feeling of a magical otherworld. The sculptures that hang from the ceiling and walls are made of plaster, wire and light bulbs; those on the ground are constructed of junk, steel, plaster and papier-mâché.
The junk used in the pieces was scavenged from the Los Angeles River behind Long's home. Calling there a "source of sustenance," Long said he often wades in the river in search of discarded articles to use in his sculptures. Packing foam, a shopping cart, coconut fiber and various containers, most covered with white plaster, feature widely in the exhibition. Before his lecture, the audience was treated to footage of Long dragging his piece, "We Wait a Long Time to See You, to Beat You," through the river.
The bare lights from suspended pieces throughout the gallery are strategically placed to "penetrate the other pieces," Long said. Describing the play of light and shadows as "irresponsible" and "playful," Long emphasized the need for viewer involvement with his work and for visitors to interact and be creative with their interpretations of his art.
Citing the writing of 13th-century Persian poet Rumi as well as the drawings of his 9-year-old son as inspiration, Long replicates his son's scribbles in some of his art. He disclosed a particular fondness for a metal sculpture resembling satellites, which hangs near the gallery entrance. Called "The Good Friend of Forever," after a line from a poem by Rumi, it is modeled after one of his son's pictures.
Much of Long's work in "More Like a Dream Than a Scheme" is metaphorical. The stark whiteness of the plaster that coats most of his work, coupled with his very sporadic use of color, gives the exhibition an ethereal feel. This is one of Long's aims in the piece "The Slave Chemist," which features 32 miniature figures stuck to steel rods emerging from a broad, round table base. The figures encircle an amorphous mass of papier-mâché.
"The physicality of this world is represented by the table base," Long said, "and the figures are elevated to another level, the world of the pretend, the make-believe."
Even the title of the exhibition is metaphorical. "More Like a Dream Than a Scheme" not only describes the physical appearance of the gallery and Long's art, but also refers to his pieces, which are unpremeditated and completely open to viewer interpretation.
"I just want my viewers to have fun, live passionately and think creatively," Long said.
"More Like a Dream Than a Scheme" will be on display at the David Winton Bell Gallery through March 6.
