Bronze sculptures create fanciful world

By Christopher R. Young
Flint Journal Contributing Writer

Strolling in from a bright autumn day and approaching the door at the University of Michigan-Flint Fine Art Gallery, I had the impression of entering the hushed half-light and mysterious world of a cave filled with icicle-shaped stalagmites rising from the floor in apparent defiance of gravity.

Taking the liberty of squinting ones eyes transforms these shapes into tall, flickering flames shimmering above evenly spaced white rectangles.

This fanciful world on closer examination involves the expressive, figurative bronze sculptures of Kirk R. J. K. Roda of Ann Arbor.

Roda received bachelor's and master's degrees of fine arts from Eastern Michigan University. Since graduating in 1997, he has been teaching sculpture, drawing and design at a variety of schools including Eastern Michigan University and Oakland Community College.

In the opening line of his artist's statement, Roda says, "Forms as they exist in space are utterly fascinating to me."

Pursuing the expressive plastic qualities of his materials, involving the modeling of clay forms used in casting bronzes, Roda ingeniously creates solid objects with the illusion of being made out of ethereal materials.

The centerpiece of this installation is "Winged Messenger III," which greets the visitor at the door of the gallery.

The sinuous emaciated musculature rises with a dramatic vertical thrust from its base.

Extreme attenuation, the violent sweeping motion of the arms straining upward and the unfurling wings reinforce a sense of matter struggling to overcome gravity and to attain the weightlessness of levitation.

Four more variations of the "Winged Messenger" are on display, illustrating the artists desire to rework a theme in an exploratory attempt "to draw as much visual information as a subject will yield."

Most of the sculpture in this exhibit pivots around mythological and biblical themes, which Roda responds to because of their "timelessness."

Throughout art history, the subject of St., Sebastian, who met his demise by being perforated by arrows, has held an odd fascination for artists.

In Roda's version, the saints hands are twisted behind an overarching back and straining torso, forcing the gaunt belly to protrude. There is a conspicuous absence of arrows.

The gentle sway of his narrow, vertical figure speaks volumes about emotional torment and physical torture.

At the same time, there is something disturbingly sensuous and seductive in the elegant linear refinements of the figure.

"Casca" is a quixotic figure, rendered as a vertical projectile, with lance and helmet ready to do battle. However, the figure is grotesquely contorted with arms grappling behind a straining arched back and chin embedded in his chest, suggesting the battle is with self and not a windmill.

What is all this male nudity, exaggerated attenuation and upwardly mobile stress?

As with so many exhibits involving contemporary artists, so much isrevealed and so much is concealed, leaving the viewer to speculate.

The exhibit runs though Nov. 25. The Fine Atrs Gallery is on the ground floor of the University Center. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.