Cavalcade
Castle, Wendell Keith
1989
Artwork Information
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Title:
Cavalcade
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Artist:
Castle, Wendell Keith
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Artist Bio:
American, 1932–2018
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Date:
1989
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Medium:
Mahogany, lacewood, poplar, copper and gold leaf
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Dimensions:
53 1/2 x 21 1/4 x 17 1/2 inches
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Credit Line:
Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Burneta Adair Endowment Fund
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Object Number:
1991.4
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Display:
Not Currently on Display
About the Artwork
Cavalcade is a grouping of elements stacked to suggest that the connections is precarious. It defies gravity slightly, but the imbalance is not so bad that you feel uneasy about it. Each element has its own identity, not intended to be totally sympathetic with the others.
The base is a sort of watermelon with chopped off ends that the artist originally thought of as a log with chopped off ends. The idea is that when a tree is cut down the logger will frequently cut in from two directions to make the tree fall better and you get that kind of end cut. Here the log was a very short section, inflated to make it fat. Then it seemed less like a log and more like a watermelon with the ends clipped off. A precious material inside suggests that this is really a gold log or a juicy watermelon.
The element staked on top is a more formal shape, the inflated octagon, and sitting on top of that is a bowl. It tends to look like it might be a bowl, but it levels out to a tabletop. The ball puts the piece in use and completes the picture. There is no bowl of fruit of vase of flowers necessary.