"When the sculptor Joel Shapiro created Blue, the piece that stands around the back of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, looking out over the Potomac River in Washington, he wanted to tap into a number of elements. The giant matchstick figure denotes movement and energy, risk and possibility. As Shapiro himself has said, it is supposed to reconfigure depending on how you look at it."
"Kennedy was a champion of the arts and he was determined to have a national centre for them in the capital city, pushing hard to fund it. Two months after his assassination in 1963, it was decided by Congress that it should be named after him. Washington DC is steeped in grandeur and self-assurance. It honours the most revered American presidents in style."
Joel Shapiro's Blue stands behind the Kennedy Center, overlooking the Potomac, and was designed to evoke movement, energy, risk and possibility. The sculpture intentionally shifts perception so viewers can see a raking pass, a side-on volley or the Italia 90 mascot depending on angle. The Kennedy Center serves as a major cultural hub for ballet, opera, stage productions and concerts, established through John F. Kennedy's commitment to a national center for the arts and named after him following his assassination. Washington DC features numerous grand presidential memorials that reinforce national pride. The Kennedy Center gains renewed resonance as it hosts the upcoming World Cup draw.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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