About the Exhibition
Seven Magic Points by Martti Aiha (b.1952, Pudasjarvi, Finland) is a low-lying sculpture comprising cast bronze, leaf-and/or-flame-like forms. The sculpture is sited at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, approximately twenty-five feet due east of the existing concrete and steel plate which now lies beneath the hex-pavers.
The piece is made of seven sections that fit together to form a flat-lying disk measuring twenty feet in diameter and standing one foot off the ground. The piece is made of cast bronze, which forms the swirling, undulating, organic shapes that are characteristic of the artist’s visual vocabulary. “I was drawn to the natural shapes,” stated James Clark, Executive Director of the Public Art Fund, “The swirling suggests a maelstrom of fire or biomorphic shapes.” While the piece may be construed as minimal (the materials being of utmost importance to the artist), Aiha’s concern for beauty and design push it beyond a minimalist aesthetic. “In my time in Finland,” Clark continued, “it was clear that many artists attempt to reconcile nature with industry—both issues being central to the Finnish creation myth, the Kalevala.” Aiha’s artistic vision allows him to sculpt even the heaviest wood and metal into shapes, and images of joy and pleasure, evoking romantic ideas of nature unbound.