Engagement (sculpture)

Engagement is a series of sculptures by Dennis Oppenheim depicting two diamond engagement rings. One version was installed in 2005 at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1][2] Others are at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada,[3] San Diego, California,[4] Ruoholahti, Finland,[5] and Leoben, Austria.[6]

Engagement
The sculpture in Vancouver in 2014
Year2005 (2005)
TypeSculpture
MediumAluminum, steel, plexiglass
LocationVancouver, British Columbia
Coordinates49.28222°N 123.141157°W / 49.28222; -123.141157

Description and history
The sculpture in 2014

Engagement, installed at Sunset Beach in 2005, depicts two diamond engagement rings and stands nearly 30 feet tall. The diamonds, illuminated and tilting away from one another, are composed of translucent plexiglass boxes, steel and aluminum.[1] The Vancouver Biennale described the sculpture as pop art. Engagement is one of several sculptures by Oppenheim that has been installed in Vancouver: The Device to Root Out Evil an upside-down aluminum church, was installed along the waterfront in Coal Harbour from 2005 to 2008, and Arriving Home was displayed within Vancouver International Airport as part of the 2009–2011 Vancouver Biennale.[7]

During November 11–17, 2007, Engagement was installed along the waterfront at Laurel and Harbor Drive in San Diego, California.[8]

Interpretation and reception

Oppenheim, who often declines to explain his works, kept the meaning of Engagement ambiguous on purpose.[1] According to the San Diego Port, the work reminds spectators that "marriage requires a balance between two people with different interests, tastes and backgrounds" and represents the "dichotomy of marriage, expressing the romantic and the melancholy".[8]

Debates over same-sex marriage in Canada were taking place around the time the work was installed in Vancouver.[1][7]

See also

References
  1. "Engagement". Vancouver Biennale. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  2. Biller, Steven (April 2011). "Art in the City". Palm Springs Life. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  3. Engagement at Reno
  4. Ginourmous Engagement Rings, San Diego, CA
  5. Public art around Ruoholahti
  6. Photo of Engagement in Leoben
  7. "U.S. artist Dennis Oppenheim dies at 72". CBC News. January 25, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  8. "Dennis Oppenheim's "Engagement" Comes to San Diego". Port of San Diego. November 13, 2007. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
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