Los Gatos sculptor David Middlebrook has been busy packing, but the prolific artist and retired San Jose State art professor isn’t moving anywhere. He’s been preparing one of his pieces, “The Return,” — a life-size canoe held aloft by several 8-foot-high bamboo poles — to be shipped to Italy, where it’ll be one of two of his artworks exhibited at the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s most prestigious art festivals, beginning in April.
While this isn’t the first time he’s had a piece at Venice — he was part of a two-person exhibition during the Biennale a decade ago — he said he’s very pleased to have his work shown at the international art show again. The other sculpture going to the Biennale, “How the West Was Lost,” is a bronzed saddle originally sculpted out of corrugated cardboard with a marble horn.
Both pieces carry serious messages. “The Return” examines the decimation of indigenous people in the Americas and their ancient connection to Asia. “How the West Was Lost” represents how the clearing of forest land during the 19th century and the rise of cattle ranching impacted climate change. But they juxtapose unusual elements and fool the viewer’s eye by seemingly ignoring the laws of physics. The natural-looking green bamboo poles are actually bronzed and painted; the saddle seems to float, but it’s actually resting on the ropes hanging from it that also are bronzed.
“I love the challenge of deception and distortion of perception,” said Middlebrook, who considers himself a “hyperrealist.” “The latest global consequences regarding the health of the planet have brought much attention to the uncertainty of our future. I try to address distortion of physical laws of nature to remind us we cannot take assumed patterns of behavior for granted. My work is playful and delightful to give hope.”
That’s true of just about everything in his studio in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Los Gatos, a structure he built himself over a year in 1974 using the concept of a basket as his guide. He’s often working on several projects at once, and right now that work includes a fountain springing from the leaves of a drooping tree branch for a private home and a piece for Menlo College in Atherton. One of his recent pieces on public display is a Peace Monument, an 11-foot tall basalt sculpture that was installed at the Morgan Hill Civic Plaza in 2022. The word “peace” appears in 27 different languages on the obelisk, which is topped with a dove and an olive branch.
He re-uses some elements in different pieces — the Menlo sculpture will also have a canoe — but generally he doesn’t like to repeat ideas because he says that’s how an artist can get trapped.
“If you hang to an idea for too long,” Middlebrook said, “it becomes you and you can’t get rid of it.”
GATHERING FOR PEACE: Run for Their Lives, an organization formed in the Bay Area last year to raise awareness about the hostages still being held in Gaza, expected about 200 people at a gathering held last Sunday in Palo Alto to mark the hostages’ 100th day of captivity. But, organizers said, more than 800 came together at Palo Alto City Hall to make their voices heard. Speakers included Palo Alto Mayor Greer Stone, Menlo Park Councilmember Jen Wolosin, Rabbi Chaim Koritzinsky of Congregation Etz Chaim, Pastor Danielle Parish of Spark Church and former Saratoga Councilmember Rishi Kumar.
Run For Their Lives, which has active groups throughout the United States and in other countries, plans to organize run/walk events to continue raising awareness. You can find out more at run4lives.org.
SOUNDS OF ITALY: Emily Ray, the founder of Mission Chamber Orchestra of San Jose, retired last season as the group’s musical director, but she is returning to the podium as a guest conductor for a special concert Jan. 28 at the Italian American Heritage Foundation’s cultural center in San Jose. The 3 p.m. show will be the Mission Chamber Orchestra’s second annual celebration of classical music by Italian composers or composers who have a connection to Italy.
That should make for quite a musical meal. There’ll be a hearty serving of opera music from Rossini and Puccini — without vocalists — along with a dash of North American composers like Canadian Marjan Mozetich, who was born in Italy, and Alexander Goodheart, a third-generation Italian American. The concert will mark the world premiere performances of the second and third movements of Goodheart’s “Divided: An American Symphony.” Tickets can be purchased in advance at missionchamber.org.
TALKING VOTING: The diversity of Santa Clara County has been well-documented over the years, but I was still amazed when I saw that Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters was going to begin a series of online “Voter Language Workshops” to help voters familiarize themselves with the upcoming March 5 primary election. The workshops begin with one in English only on Jan. 23 and then continue in 13 other languages on different dates — including Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and Tagalog. You can see the full range as well as dates and times — at vote.santaclaracounty.gov/voter-language-workshops.
PROPERLY PERCOLATED: We’ve got an answer to the brewing question of whether San Jose really is the No. 2 coffee city in the United States. In my column on the topic, I noted that real estate data firm Clever’s rankings that had San Jose as runner-up to Portland seemed to be ranked according to the average price of a cappuccino and disregarding the survey’s other categories. A spokesperson for Clever attributed the problem to a “pasting issue” on the chart but confirmed the rankings were correct.
The only issue? Correcting the problem meant San Jose’s average price for a cappuccino jumped from $4.17 to $5.96 — which, sadly, sounds closer to the truth. Thanks to eagle-eyed reader Pam Hansen for being the first to spot the problem with the data.
Source: www.mercurynews.com