The Art Gallery

I had an hour to kill before my dinner reservation so I walked up the street just looking at the various stores and restaurants.  I came to an art gallery and figured I could easily spend forty minutes or so. 

Most of the paintings I saw were typical landscapes and still-life’s with an occasional abstract that only made me wonder how on earth it made it this far.

Interspersed with the wall hangings were statues and sculptures placed here and there with small directional lights pointing at them for effect.  One such sculpture immediately caught my attention.  I should mention here that the gallery had thick, plush carpet and was quieter than a politician in church.  The reason I tell you this is when I saw this sculpture I let out an audible gasp.  I quickly put my hand over my mouth and looked around.  I could see that no one else was there so I didn’t feel like a bumpkin on his first trip to the big city.

The sculpture was on an elevated platform that was turning very slowly.  As it turned, the small spotlight altered the shadows and somehow changed all perspectives.  I couldn’t look away.  It was mesmerizing and completely incredible.  How could the artist have envisioned this?  With the slightest rotation the entire sculpture took on a completely different appearance.

As I stood there watching, it changed from a woman’s face caressing her baby into a unicyclists about to tip over.  Just a second later I could swear I saw a pair of worn military boots, the laces of which had moments ago been part of the woman’s hair.  This was not a hologram but a sculpted mass. 

This amazing creation was part wood, polished metal and ceramic.  The various textures seemed to make smooth transitions as it went from what appeared to be worn boot leather into the back of the mother’s hand holding her small child.  The spokes of the unicycle were made through the polished reflection between wood and spun ceramic.

As I stood waiting to see what would appear next as it rotated - the color of the small spot light changed.  It was now a deep bluish-green and it was pulsating rapidly.  The effect it had on the sculpture was astounding.  It was as if it had come alive.  The wheel of the unicycle now looked to be spinning, and what I had taken to be old army boots now somehow looked as though a fish were looking up through rippling river water at a fisherman's waiters.  I wondered how in the world this could be.  How could this one rotating sculpture keep evolving into so many different images?

I glanced at my watch.  My dinner reservation time had come and gone.  I had been standing here much longer than I realized. 

Before leaving, however, I had to know who made such an amazing piece.  I looked up at the plaque hanging on the panel next to it.  The artist name said: Ukalla Disart .

The title said: Time Lapse