Noah Caspar

BFA in Art & Design

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Endless Column

Endless Column is a fibers installation aimed to contain colonial space through the act of culture capture, a term defined by the indigenous-led public secret society New Red Order. This decolonial monument is installed at the former location of Horace Greeley’s House in the Woods. Greeley is a prominent historical figure in Chappaqua, NY whose land acquisition and postmortem property donations catalyzed colonial development in my suburban hometown. Nowadays, a path used for trail running and self-guided walking tours with informational plaques marks the site. Building off of Rosalind Krauss’ 1979 essay “Sculpture in the Expanded Field,” Endless Column recontextualizes columns within the statuary tradition to expand the plinth as a bodily abstraction. The basket’s hollow nature encourages a reevaluation of the interior space it defines, reconstructing sites of memory through expanded discussion and critique. Noah Caspar is an intermedia artist from Westchester, NY who employs sculptural fibers to explore how memory becomes encoded within space. Framing craft within an expanded sculptural practice allows for disparate elements to intersect like woven fibers. How is significance derived through conjoinment? Caspar’s artistic process emphasizes transformative labor of weaving utilized for reimagining the cultural fabric of the American landscape as well their audience's relationship to each other, the material body, landscape, and architecture.
Extending from the frame's bottom edge, a path in the woods veers off slightly to the left. To its right, near the bottom right hand corner, is a informational plaque planted into the ground with a wooden base. This is one of the latter stops on the historical
An anthropomorphic basket, or woven column, protrudes from a curving path whose scale is made visible by the artist, who walks toward the viewer from behind the sculpture. Caspar is positioned several feet behind the bushes that line the path and is seen wearing a pale knit tank as well as royal blue jeans. The camera is situated in front of the informational plaque, so the trail marker is not in sight. The left side of the work glows in the sun, so there are deep shadows on its right side.
The backsides of the work and informational plaque, which is situated to its left, are in view. The sun casts a slight highlight on the far right of the basket.
The side of the basket nearest the plaque is photographed. This work can be understood as site construction in the expanded field of sculpture, as part of the basket was woven on-site by participants. The bodily nature of the form mimics a limbed figure with a protruding stomach.
The base, which folds in on itself several times due to the weight of the basket, is situated on the left hand side of the photograph. Some of the hanging rope used as weavers, or horizontal weaving material, is tied with jute twine to ensure the edges do not fray. The sculpture is grounding itself, pulling the surrounding dead grasses and leaves toward its base. A harmonious relationship exists between the muted yellow and brown tones of the basket and the surrounding environment.
This detail shot captures the outer facade of the basket from mid-height. The directionality of the horizontal weavers, which are slightly angled upwards and to the right, are emphasized. One of the weavers, which is replaced by an additional rope segment, is untucked, resulting in the visibility of its protruding, frayed edge. Three hanging warps hug the surface of the sculpture. The two on the right hand-side cross near their edges.
This detail shot captures the top few rows of the basket as well as the dangling frayed warp. The edges of the vertical rope segments are not tucked into the basket, allowing for the weaving process to continue infinitely as additional material is inserted into the structure.
Taken from above the basket, this detail shot emphasizes the hollow nature of the bodily sculpture, which is centered in the horizontal composition. The hollowness of the basket poses this sculpture as a container. The circular edges of two of three metal rods that provide additional support are visible. This birds eye view angle highlights that two horizontal weavers are woven around the interior and exterior faces of each parallel vertical rope.
The sculpture is photographed from a low angle to resemble a widened tree trunk with branches that extend from behind the top of its twined rows. The upwards reaching branches form a contrast from the warp that hangs due to gravity. The winding structure of the growing form are emphasized.
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