Truth Is Beauty

A picture of a woman touching the legs of a large sculpture piece at the Renwick Gallery.

Miyah Powe interacting with „Truth is Beauty“ at the Renwick Gallery for No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man. Photo by Libby Weiler.

“What would the world be like if women were truly safe?” This is the question Marco Cochrane challenges both male and female audiences to consider when viewing his sculptureTruth is Beauty. The sculpture – a woman on her toes, stretched backwards – is made from stainless steel and mesh. I was surprised to learn that the 18-foot figure in the Renwick Gallery is a replica of the 55-foot original that stood at Burning Man in 2013 (and it’s still nearly four times my height!). When I entered the Burning Man exhibit at the Renwick, I was immediately drawn to the figure that nearly touched the ceiling. Truth is Beauty is the largest object in the room; the Amazonian figure towered over other museumgoers and other works around it. I was instantly overwhelmed, first, by the sheer size of the sculpture.

An installation photo of Marco Cochrane with his sculpture Truth is Beauty.

Installation photo of Marco Cochrane with Curator Nora Atkinson discussing „Truth is Beauty“ at the Renwick Gallery for No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man. Photo by Libby Weiler

As I moved closer to the figure, I noticed how elegant she seemed — the arch of her back and the gentle tilt of her head gave her a certain tenderness that made it hard to look away. Special lighting effects also make her appear otherworldly. The mesh allows the multicolored lights to pass through, casting large shadows onto walls, making the whole experience feel dream-like. At Burning Man, the original figure rivaled the vastness of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, and yet the 18-foot figure’s expression of freedom makes her seem confined by the gallery ceiling.

Part of what I found most interesting about the sculpture is that her pose is simple and natural, yet carries so much emotional power. She does not seem afraid to take up space and stands as if to say I am here. Cochrane implies that the female form doesn’t need to be performing in any special way to have value in art or in life. Cochrane’s last sculpture in his series of monumental sculptures of women, The Bliss Project, focuses on this idea that women should be able to exist freely.

An image of a sculpture piece of a woman stretching her arms out inside the Renwick Gallery.

Marco Cochrane, Truth is Beauty, 2017. Photo by Ron Blunt.

Cochrane says this is the woman open, without the pressures and fears that often come along with having a female body. I have never seen steel mesh used in a sculpture and while examining the material up close, I wondered: Why were these particular materials used and how do they affect how I perceive the figure? The combination of steel and mesh make the piece a paradox ‒ she is equal parts strong and exposed. The stance is open and accepting in nature, but also exudes defiance.

At first glance, I thought the figure might be a generalization of no particular woman’s body, but perhaps the artist’s recreation of what he considers to be an ‘ideal’ body. However, the incredible level of detail, especially given the materials used, suggested to me that this figure was not a generalization. Even though she is nude, the sculpture does not feel exploitive or gratuitous. Though she is large and, literally, on display, she does not seem to be made for a sexual gaze. The figure is modeled after Deja Solis, who chose this pose for herself. She was able to move in the way she wanted, so this sculpture demonstrates how women, or least this woman, would act if women were universally safe from physical violence. The woman’s figure is seen through the eyes of the female model as well as the male artist, which I think makes for an interesting balance between the female imagination and the artist’s perception of femininity. It seems that Cochrane is not only making a statement about freedom (and lack thereof), but also femininity. The sculpture is markedly feminine; her delicate and ethereal expressions are aligned with what we consider traditionally feminine. Her size and commanding presence, however, paradoxically fight against the notion that women must be restricted in expression.

A photograph of Truth is Beauty out on the playa at Burning Man.

Marco Cochrane, Truth is Beauty, 2013, stainless steel rod, stainless steel mesh. Photo by Eleanor Preger.

back
21er Haus · Abstract Expressionism · Advice · Aesthetics · Africa · African American · Ai Weiwei · Albrecht Dürer · Alcohol · Ali Cavanaugh · Amazon · Amsterdam · Andy Warhol · Animals · Animation · Antiquity · Apartheid · Archaeology · Architecture · Art History · Art installation · Art Market · Art nouveau · Art per se · Art Pharmacy · Art project · Art reception · Art Stage · Artemisia Gentileschi · Artist Project · Artist reunion · Artists about Art · Asad Raza · Asia · Astronomy · Atelier · Auction · Australia · Authenticity · Bach · Banksy · Barcelona · Baroque · Battle of the Sexes · Beauty · Belgium · Ben Enwonwu · Benin · Berlin · Bernini · Biennale · Bike · Bill Traylor · Biography · Biology · Border Film Project · Border-crossing · British Museum · Bronze · Budapest · Butterfly · Cameroon · Campbell’s Soup · Canada · Caravaggio · Cartoon · Cat · Charles Edward Perugini · Charles François Daubigny · Charts · Chicago · Children · China · Christian Art · Christianity · Cinema · City · Cityscape · Climate · Cloth · Clothes · Collection · Colours · Comic · Community · Construction · Consumption · Contemporary Art · Contemporary History · Count Ibex Collection · Countrysite · Cowboys · Craft · Crafting · Cuban Art · Cubism · Customize · Damien Hirst · Danny Lyon · Darkness · David Eichenberg · David Hockney · David Levinthal · Death · Debate · Deception · Decoration · Design · Destination · Detroit · Diego Rivera · Digi-Arts · Dimension · Diorama · Discrimination · Discussion · DNA · Dog · Domestic space · Drawing · Earthquake · Edmund Charles Tarbell · Education · Edward Hopper · Edwynn Houk Gallery · Egypt · Electricity · Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun · Emotions · Erasure · Ernest Lawson · Ernest Mancoba · Erwin Blumenfeld · Ethic · Ethnology · Eugène Delacroix · Eva Lewarne · Events · Exhibition · Experiment · Fake · Family · Fashion · Featured Artist · Feminism · Figurative Art · Film · Fire · Flowers · Food · Form · France · Frankfurt · Frederick Goodall · French art · Frida Kahlo · Friendship · Furniture · Futurism · Gallery · Games · Garden · Geometry · George Sand · Gerard David · Gerhard Richter · Germany · Getty · Ghana · Ghosts · Gifts · Giotto · Giovanni Bellini (Giambellino) · Glass · Goethe · Gold · Good Idea · Gothic · Goya · Graffiti · Halcyon Gallery · Handcraft · Hans von Aachen · Harlem · Health · History · Horoscope · Huang Binhong · Hungarian National Gallery · Hyperrealism · Ibrahim El Salahi · Identity · Illustration · Imagination · Impressionism · India · Individuum · Indonesia · Interieur · Internet · Interview · Iran · Israel · Italy · Ivory · Ivory Coast · Jan van Scorel · Japan · Jasper Johns · Jaume Huguet · Jean Paul Gaultier · Jean-François Baudet · Jeff Koons · Jerusalem · JMW Turner · Joachim Patinir · Johannes Vermeer · John Singer Sargent · Joseph Karl Stieler · Journey · Jules Breton · Kaari Upson · Karel Appel · Karl Lagerfeld · Katsushika Hokusai · Kerry James Marshall · Keto · Kurt Hüpfner · Landscape · Latin America · Leasure · Leonardo da Vinci · Lifestyle · Lili Ország · Lisbon · Literature · London · Lorena Kloosterboer · Lorenzo Lotto · Los Angeles · Louver Gallery · Louvre · Love · Luck · Macchiavelli · Madrid · Magic · Malangatana · Malick Sidibé · Map · Marble · Marcel Duchamp · Marco Grassi · Maria Lassnig · Martha Pulina · Mary Stevenson Cassatt · Masterpiece Project · Material Culture · Matisse · Matthew Cherry · Max Friedländer · MC Escher · MEAM · Mexican Art · Miami · Michelangelo · Middle Ages · Mies van der Rohe · Minimalism · Mining · Mitch Griffiths · Mixed Media · Mobility · Modern Art · Mona Lisa · Moon · Morto da Feltre · Mosaic · Mozambique · Mulan Gallery · Munich · Murillo · Muse · Museum · Music · Mythology · Nathan Zhou · Native Americans · Nature · Neoclassic · Netherlands · New York · Nigeria · Norway · Nudity · Object · Oil paintings · Old masters · Orientalism · Osman Hamdi Bey · Pablo Picasso · Palestine · Paper · Paris · Pattern · Peace of paper · Pen and Ink · Pencil · Perspective · Peter Lindbergh · Philadelphia · Philipp Weber · Philosophy · Photographs · Photography · Places · Poetry · Poland · Politics · Pop Art · Porcelain · Portrait · Poster · Pottery · Power · Prado Museum · Prague · Presents · Printing · Protest · Psychology · Rainforest · Ramon Pichot · Raphael · Reading · Realism · Recycling · Religion · Renaissance · René Jules Lalique · René Magritte · Restauration · Review · Rings · Robert Rauschenberg · Roccoco · Roger Kemp · Romanticism · Rome · Rosa JH Berland · Royal Academy of Arts · Ruins · Russia · Rybolovlev · SAAM · Saatchi Gallery · Salvador Dali · Sappho · School · Science · Science Fiction · Sculpture · Seattle · Self-expression · Selfie · Sensation · Seoul · Sexuality · Shadow · Shakespeare · Shana Levenson · Shanghai · Shchukin · Sheryl Luxenburg · Show · Shuang Li · Singapore · Sketch · Slavery · Social Media · Society · Sophie Matisse · Sound · South Africa · Space · Spirituality · Sport · Spray painting · Städel Museum · Star Wars · State Hermitage Museum · Statistic · Still Life · Street Art · Strings · Surrealism · Surveillance · Sweden · Symmetry · Tanzania · Tate Britain · Tattoo · Technology · Temple · Textiles · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · The National Gallery · Theatre · Time · Tina Turner · Tips · Titian · Tom Watt · Tommy Hartung · Toronto · Townscape · TRAC · Travel · Turkey · UK · Underground · United Kingdom · United States · Urban Art · Urbanism · Valentin de Boulogne · Venice · Venus · Veronese · Vienna · Vincent Van Gogh · Voodoo · War · Warsaw · Washington D.C. · Water · Watercolor · Whitney Museum · Wild West · Women · World Culture Forum · World Press Freedom Day · Yoan Capote · Zhou B Art Center

Unable to display Facebook posts.
Show error

Error: Error validating application. Application has been deleted.
Type: OAuthException
Code: 190
Please refer to our Error Message Reference.