5 Mar 2012

Dispatches from Playa: True North

by | posted in: Other Work | 11

Here are some photos I took of a piece by fellow Playa resident, sculptor Rob Licht. It’s called True North, and he was out on the Playa many nights, using his stride to measure distances and using a laser point to line up the stones.

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It’s impossible to get the scale of this in these photos, and that’s kind of the point. Something about it reminds me of trying to measuring time, and that reminds me in a big way of the film.

I really like this piece. Good job, Rob.

11 Responses

  1. Eleni
    |

    Even without scale, there is something mesmerizing and beautiful about it.

    • David Licata
      |

      I agree. I thought it was especially beautiful in the snow.

      Thanks for the comment. I’m sure Rob will be happy to read it, too!

  2. Scot Siegel
    |

    Nice. I like how the sculpture plays tricks on one’s depth perception as well as height. The first image almost looks like the rocks could be standing upright.

    • David Licata
      |

      Rob speaks and writes much more eloquently about his work than I can, so I won’t speak for him or his work. I’ll just say, “It’s cool and I really enjoyed looking at it.” And yes, it does mess with your depth perception.

      As always, thanks for the comment, Scot.

  4. Rob Licht
    |

    And don’t forget the mud! When you try to pace off distances in the mud it sucks you in and slows you down, skewing the relationship of time and distance. The wetter the mud, the slower you go until, at the moment of being stuck out there in your knee high mud boots, time comes to a stand still and the space between you and the shore become infinite. Then the panic sets in and with a surge of adrenaline you muck your way back to reality.

    • David Licata
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      Time comes to a standstill, and so do you in that mud! No, we won’t soon forget the mud.

  5. Scot Siegel
    |

    So true. I also like how the wind pushes the water around aimlessly like a blind moon directing some lost tides. And when the temperature drops the mud stiffens and progress speeds up. Everything is so counter-intuitive there it makes perfect sense.

    • David Licata
      |

      You have made a fan in the co-hort, Ruby, who was reading your new book of poems yesterday and was very excited to hear about the School Marm poems, since she had been reading the autobio. I will try to connect you via FB.

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