Sam Spiczka
born 1977, St. Cloud, MN
works in Sauk Rapids, MN
Organization, 2000, Cor-ten and stainless steel, wood, 11' x 8' 6" x 18' 6", Lent by the Artist
Sam Spiczka's Organization “reflects a perceived unity of design that upon further examination shatters into a complexity not unlike that of nature." The title of this sculpture refers to the intricate systems that define living organisms. The wooden dodecahedrons (twelve-sided polygons, each side forming a pentagon) represent "cells" that appear similar on the exterior, yet the interior of each contains a different steel element such as hands, vertebrae, and other skeletal forms. The solitary “cell” that sits apart from the unified structure contains an eye. Each sculptural component represents a specific function critical to the survival of the organism as a complete unit.
Inspired by the natural world, Spiczka regularly examines the minute and complex details of a particular creature or landscape, transforming his original understanding of the whole. His work encourages further consideration of systems can only be seen by the mind's eye. Spiczka often illustrates imagery of cells, bones, veins, and organs intertwined and connected by muscles and tendons, wrapped up in continuous layers of epidermis that contain and separate one life form from another.
Spiczka considers the world to be a place in which "there is always a more subtle layer of detail to be revealed." Organization represents in a general way the basic components that compose the core of any organism. With straightforward geometric forms, the artist has peeled off obvious layers in an effort to show that all living creatures, while complex in their overall make-up, share similar qualities in the rudimentary stages of development.
