The Sculpture Gallery

Matchstick art isn't as uncommon these days as you might think. Gladbrook, Iowa actually has a Matchstick Marvel Center that displays many interesting and award-winning contemporary pieces, including the picture in this post- a scaled model of the city of Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. There are quite a few famous sculptors out there who create using this unorthodox media, such as David Mach, Jack Hall and Phil Hanson. From sculpted guitars to life-size automobiles, the subjects have no limit.

Basically many of those practicing the craft have mentioned the relation of matches to "building blocks" much as how you would view toys such as Lego or Megablocks, but on a higher difficulty. The ability for matches to function as compatible units in an overall composition is astounding, as you can see by the end product. With the development of new and unique forms of art, I'm happy right here to be able to see the design wonders that can be produced by creative minds all around the globe.

As far as modern sculpture goes, many people often say that the visual impact goes as far as the eye can see. For Len Lye, "as far as the eye can see" was literal.  In 1999, he created an astounding 45 meter fibreglass sculpture called The Wind Wand. This elongated contemporary public sculpture holds a globe at the end of its long tube. This sphere glows red at night time because it contains over a thousand light-emitting diodes inside it. As a whole sculpture, The Wind Wand can bend its vertical orientation to sway with the natural air currents. Its maximum bend can go to over 20 meters even if it weights around 900kg. This is because aside from fibreglass, its structure is also entwined with carbon fiber, a very durable, yet flexible modern material used in things like helicopter blades and automotive elements.

This sculpture is an unusual beacon both in the daylight and in the evening. Contemporary sculptures don't always need to maintain an out-of-this-world level of complexity, just a sense of original idea that affects how people experience it. This simple vertical installation isn't the most groundbreaking idea in the history of art, nor is it comparable to the aesthetic structure of the bird's nest stadium at the Beijing olympics, but it makes us stop and take a look. It makes people wonder why someone would install such a sculpture and how he came about doing so. Contemporary art means art that inspires a certain kind of human curiosity that we all smile at in one way or another. It is the art of making things different from the ordinary.