M.L. SNOWDEN SCULPTURE
THE GEOLOGICAL COREIUM - STORM TRILOGY

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Rainpillar, joins Ion, and Windscarf in defining M.L. Snowden’s STORM TRILOGY - three works which explore the connection of atmosphere and humankind to the substance of planet Earth.

 

Rainpillar is a scientific term used by geologists to describe a landform in the shape of an elongated column with a capped top form of soft rock carved by the impact of falling rain. Snowden has transformed the geological structure of Rainpillar into a larger meditation on Earth’s essential water cycle and man’s spiritual power to nurture both his life and his Earth. Snowden reflects along with contemporary science, that the composition of water, which also composes most of humanity’s substance, evidences much of the same elemental composition as bronze- in greater or lesser proportions. Humankind, bronze and water, although arranged differently, exist in an essential connection.

 

The top of Rainpillar, the heaviest element weighing more than fifty pounds, forms a diaphanous ring of clouds. Looking into this circling formation, it is possible to find intimations of a transiting female torso and other attenuated ideas that bronze, like cloud formation, has the power to suggest. The shape of Rainpillar describes a kind of contained circuit inherent in weather systems wherein energy patterns of water and airflow move from top to bottom and rise back up - a pattern that mirrors the flow of molten bronze when it pours into ceramic shell concavities in the lost wax bronze process.

 

The columnar inverted figure of Rainpillar, finds its greatest expression in channeling all its weight into the balance of one hand - a feat conceptually related to the extraordinary and almost mystically condensed growth qualities that rainwater distills and imparts to Earth. The pillar of the figure is a portrait of muscular energy shaped by gravity: re-invert the sculpture base-side-up and its figuration becomes inaccurate to its position. Rainpillaris a notable accomplishment of bronze engineering. When the full weight of the sculpture is contemplated, it is possible to see that the sculpture is merely balanced on its fingers splayed like a shower. M.L. Snowden invented the protocols and specific foundry wax that make the casting of Rainpillar possible.

 

Ultimately for the sculptor, Rainpillar culminates in the idea that man has the power to nurture Earth and the phenomenon of his own life and life cycle. Within the profound sculptural GEOLOGICAL COREIUM established in the art of M.L. Snowden, humankind expresses a deep connection to the monumental forces and energies that shape the earth and universe.

 

From important roots in the Paris studios of Auguste Rodin and Antonin Mercié, Snowden brings to Rainpillar the glowing luminous platinum Fournier Patina and the touch of the historic Rodin tools that shaped the delicate and dynamic planes of Rainpillar.