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jenevive's art connection GEORGE SEGAL
"People have attitudes locked up in their bodies, and you have to catch them." If you are interested in being a featured artist, or would like to see a specific artist featured at art connection,
ARTICLES ABOUT SEGAL I have posted these here as a source of information. Please don't try to turn these in as assignments. By Jennifer Adamski UWM Post, January 26, 2000, Vol. 44 No. 17 We all experience everyday events. They are part of life. All of us must eat, travel, bathe, and perform other daily tasks. Modern life can draw great distances between people, not physically, but emotionally. Although we are only feet away from a person, we are not obliged to acknowledge them at all. The modern lifestyle makes it possible to experience isolation even while surrounded by a crowd of people. George Segal’s sculpture, The Diner, approaches these situations. The Diner, 1964-1966, is an illustration of modern human relationships. We can identify with Segal’s figures. They represent everyday people, doing what we do, in places we are familiar with. Many people have been to a place such as The Diner. A man silently sits at a counter, watching as the waitress pours a cup of coffee. These white, plaster shells of people are no more than three feet apart, yet both appear isolated. One could not care less about the other. The figures are placed among real objects. Segal views these objects as having the same importance as the figures. “Furniture has already been made by man, and everything made by man has its own expressiveness. The chair legs in a sculpture are just as important as the human legs.” When these figures are placed in such environments, they evoke a powerful presence. George Segal was born in New York City in 1924. His father was a Bronx butcher, who later became a chicken farmer. When Segal was sixteen, his family moved to North Brunswick, New Jersey. He took various courses at Cooper Union, Rutgers University, where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree, and studied art education at the Pratt Institute of Design in Brooklyn. Segal ran a chicken farm, which by 1960 was nearly bankrupt. A change came when one of Segal’s art students brought a plaster soaked bandage, asking if he thought it could be used as an art form. Segal took it home and had his wife wrap him up. He nearly tore out his hair trying to get out of the bandages. From that point, the rest is history. Segal has refined his process over the years. He now uses Saran Wrap to protect hairstyles, and Vaseline to ensure that no body hair is pulled off. A plaster soaked cloth is applied to the model, and removed in sections. The most time-consuming task is assembling the pieces, adding detail or blurring it as he sees fit. The mark of his process is evident on his figures. Segal seldom uses professional models, because he prefers everyday people, in relaxed poses. Segal explains: “You have to know the gesture you want, and then there’s always the question of whether the human being can hold that gesture for the 20 minutes it takes for the plaster to dry. People have attitudes locked up in their bodies, and you have to catch them.” A dramatic effect is created when the figures are placed in real environments. This contrast of real and unreal is what makes his work so stunning and mysterious. The great beauty of Segal’s works is that he does not spell everything out for us. He simply gets us thinking, inviting us to recall memories of ourselves in the same situation, among similar objects. Although he does not consider himself a social commentator, he encourages our thoughts, in a way, asking us to identify with his timeless people. Segal directs us to focus on these banal activities and commonplace settings, and in turn, gives new meaning to what we do. He creates a fresh understanding of our human emotions and relationships.
By Jennifer Adamski Segal was born in 1924 in New York. He took various courses at Cooper Union, New York; Rutgers University, New Jersey; and studied art education at the Pratt Institute of Design in Brooklyn. He ran a chicken farm until 1958, and began to paint seriously in 1953. He had his first one-man show in 1956. He began to experiment with sculpture in 1958; making representations of people using wire netting, burlap, and plaster. The figures he made were put into environments. Segal's works portray life's banal activities, intimate activities, and political subjects. All of these situations highlight the routine that everyone follows . Segal's figures appear to be frozen in time. He makes the casts from real people. The inside of each cast has that person's every detail. But the outside shows only essential details - and makes the figures anonymous. Segal's plaster people shave their legs, ride on buses, and sit in diners.
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