Finegan’s Sympony In Three Forms Essay, Research Paper

“Symphony in Three Forms”

Donald Finegan’s sculpture, “Symphony in Three Forms”, consists of three figures of abstract twisted metal on cement bases. Fiberglass was sprayed on thin strips of bronze and then molded into the shapes they are in. The metal was twisted in abstract ways to represent the flow of music and different stages in a musical piece. The left figure has many pieces of metal twisted in about the same manner almost parallel to each other. The figure in the middle is taller than the other two figures. It’s pieces curve upward and into each other. The figure on the right is smaller, but all the pieces of metal flow in different directions. Each of these figures is set on top of cement cubes. There are also smaller cement cylinders in between each of the cement cubes.

The sculpture is located outside the main doors of Russell Hall. It’s been placed there because Russell Hall is the music building on campus and the sculpture represents the flow and stages of a symphony of music. I believe the sculpture is in the perfect spot. There really is no room on any other side of the building to put it, and it is placed in front of the building where many students walk by every day. Since the sculpture is away from the building the spot also gives people the chance to walk around the sculpture and relate to the sculpture from different angles.

Finegan attempted to capture the movement and liveliness of music in form. This piece lets the viewer actually see music in a certain form. The left figure sets the symphony theme. The figure on the right represents theme development, and the tall center figure represents the climax of the symphony. The small cylinders connect the three figures into one symphony. Each piece flows in a pleasing and very lively way representing the liveliness of the symphony. Although music is heard and not physically seen this piece shows how music would be seen if it could be.

I like the creativeness of this work. I never really thought of music as being a physical object that you could touch. Finegan has really taken a different approach to the concepts of music, which I believe helps us to better understand it. I believe the work is very well done. I can easily see the expression he is trying to convey. Each piece obviously flows just like music flows, and the progressions of a symphony are easily conveyed as a different stage in each piece. I like this piece. It always caught my eye as I passed it. I new it had something to do with the flow of music but I never new exactly what it was about. Now that I have taken a closer look I can see the creativeness and effectiveness of this piece conveying an actual symphony of music.