Arlene Slavin's Functional Art: Where Talent and Perfection Intersect

To see my previous pictorial piece on Ms. Slavin's public art, click here. To see my previous pictorial piece on Ms. Slavin's art in the 1980's, click here. And to see my previous pictorial piece on Ms. Slavin's murals since 1978 and paintings since 1989, click here.

The works below are described as “functional art” at Arlene Slavin's section at artnet's Artist Works Catalogues. The two firescreens and the mirror are privately-owned and used privately, but the other works are freely usable by the public.*

In these times when public pursuits are increasing threatening, when a police presence may be more ominous to ordinary Americans than meandering into parts of urban areas controlled by the officially “lawless” used to be, only the wealthy can afford to cloister themselves and their art behind locked gates and guarded by private security forces.

In these time, Arlene Slavin's functional (and public) art are beacons of hope and public communitas. They were and are in a very real sense a public alternative to the works of countless, nameless graffiti artists – to art that nobody paid for and was loathed almost uniformly by public officials - culminating in the public art of Bansky and other modernists. As critical as civil disobedience is in these times, one artist's expression of civil obedience demonstrates the dream so many of us share.

Lion of Judea Firescreen (Laser-Cut Plate and Wire Mesh, 1996)

Seagull Firescreen (2006)

Songbird Mirror (Laser-Cut Steel Plate, 1996)

Racing Spaniels (Laser-Cut Steel Plates, 2003)

Spencer's Restaurant (Laser_Cut Stainless Steel, 1999)

The Panther Railing (Laser-Cut Aluminum Plate, 1990)

-

*All images are courtesy of artnet's Artist Works Catalogues. See here, where it says “artnet offers these catalogues free to the public as an educational resource. Simply click on an individual artist's image to begin, and check back often to browse new catalogues.”