Medulla

1995

American, born 1955

"Calderon sculpts sensuously textured, ambiguous forms. He combines a few different ideas into a new hybrid intended to elicit a 'yearning to understand.' 'Medulla,' an abstract, iconic bronze, invites many associations: an urn, a heart, an insect nest, and Buddha's head. It took him several days to create the individual protrusions that decorate the object's surface. Calderon remembers feeling both devotion and penance as he worked on the wax shell used for the bronze casting. He likes the mysterious and surreal fantasy of a Buddha whose head is covered entirely with hair."

Cast bronze

15 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (39.37 x 24.13 x 24.13 cm)

Northwest Acquisition Fund

96.72

Provenance: The artist; [Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1996

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Five Installations on the Fourth Floor: Varieties of Sculpture, June 26, 1997.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Asian Affinities, Aug. 28, 1999 - Jan. 2, 2001.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, International Abstraction: Making Painting Real, May 2, 2003 - Feb. 29, 2004.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Contemporary Art: Made in Seattle–A Northwest Summer, May 4 - July 23, 2006.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reverberations: Contemporary Art and Modern Classics, Dec. 22, 2022 - ongoing.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM