Study (Butterfly Rest Stop 1/9 Scale), Rome, Italy 2022
DESCRIPTION
Janet Echelman's Study (Butterfly Rest Stop 1/9 scale) is installed in Rome’s Chiostro del Bramante between February 2022 and January 2023 as part of the exhibition CRAZY - Madness in contemporary art, curated by Danilo Eccher.
Echelman’s colorful fiber sculpture is a 1/9 scale maquette for a 186 ft long permanent sculpture the artist is designing for a new public park in Texas (USA) which is located on the migration pathway of the Monarch butterfly.
Echelman's art practice explores the interconnectedness of humans and nature in the public sphere, and stems from the artist's fascination with interconnected systems of the natural world of which we are a small part.
This sculpture project focuses on the role butterflies and other pollinators play in our Earth's ecosystem. Monarch numbers have declined substantially in recent years due to the loss of milkweed along their migratory routes, which resonated with Echelman’s focus on the interconnection within larger cycles and systems in our physical world.
The aesthetics of the artwork explore the form, pattern, and color of native species of the milkweed flowers that sustain the Monarch butterfly throughout its migration. Two five-petaled sculptural forms composed of soft braided fiber nestle together and float gently in the air.
This artwork is also a conceptual inquiry into perception, as it poses questions about how a flower appears to the eyes and minds of a species which sees in a completely different manner from human beings. Unlike homosapiens, Monarch butterflies have compound eyes which enable them to simultaneously see up, down, forward, backward and to the sides . Also unlike humans, they are unable to see these images united into one continuous picture – more like a series of still photos rather than a movie.
The artist’s installation within the architectural space encourages gallery visitors to walk around the artwork to see its color, pattern, and form from multiple vantage points, which can only be sewn together in our minds, highlighting our awareness of visual perception in our own species in contrast to a much smaller species upon which our very survival is inextricably linked.
Sculpture by the Numbers:
234,000 knots
12.4 miles twine in netting
113 lbs weight of net
17ft 10in length of net
5ft 7in depth of net
MATERIALS AND SIZE
Fiber and Colored Lighting. Fibers are braided with nylon and UHMWPE (Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene)
Dimensions: 20 ft x 11.5 ft, variable height
CREDITS
Artist: Janet Echelman
Studio Echelman Team: Melissa Henry, Adam Burke, Daniel Smith
Curator: Danilo Eccher
Lighting & Installation: Chiostro del Bramante
Photography: Giovanni de Angelis, Valentina Cosentino, Janet Echelman
LOCATION
Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, Italy