Will to Provoke

By Jon Roig
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 27, 1997

Kristy Mangos
Arizona Daily Wildcat
"Portrait in E Major" by John Heric

Let's face it, the art on campus sucks. Whether it's the "E.T. on a Unicycle" thing in front of the Student Union, the growing scrap heap in front of the library, or the inexplicable yellow monstrosity lurking by Harvil, it all leaves something to be desi red. But observers who have wandered through the arcade behind the Theater and Music buildings on their way to the corner of Park and Speedway have no doubt noticed a new piece of public art on display. Yes, it's also a bit inexplicable - a 1,500 pound po lished aluminum creation entitled "A Portrait in E Major" - but it's nothing if not thought provoking.

Even its creator, John Heric, an Associate Professor of Art here at the UA, seems unable to articulate its meaning: "I don't know what it means and I don't care what it means. You're trying to beat me into something here, and I know how reporters are - d on't try scamming me this morning, OK? I'm not going to tell you what it means and I'm not necessarily sure if I know what it means. And I don't want to be quoted on that."

A rude response from someone who just got $48,000 of our tuition money to create this thing. But really, I think I just caught him at a bad time. Students who have taken his class assure me that he's "cool."

"It's just a piece of sculpture and that's what it is," he continues.

"Everybody's always looking for some great big meaning in these things and I'm sure that there is stuff there...If I was going to sit and write about it, then I'd be a writer. But I'm a sculptor, so I make sculptures and you can look and enjoy it, OK?"

Heric has been teaching sculpture here "forever" - he started in 1965. He makes sculptures, he says, because "they stimulate me. Not because the work is of any great value, but because I find it visually stimulating...so that's kind of where I'm at with m y life. I think it was a wonderful thing to have done this - it was the biggest aluminum piece I've ever done. I committed a year to it and it took two and a half."

The result of his labor is stunning and the mind reels when one tries to make sense of it. Physically, it's fairly straightforward - a big old metal cone with some thorns sprouting out of it and some musical instruments balanced on top. Creating this for m, however was not easy: "Everything that's in there, I made," Heric explains. "Everything is either cast, forged, or fabricated and it was based on a rough sketch that I put together. The making of the sculpture is a very personal thing and I don't want my sculpture to look like somebody else's. When I look at the thing, I find I have a lot of questions. And I think, frankly, that's what makes a successful piece, if it asks questions. If artwork doesn't ask questions, if I give you all the answers, the n it's going to be pretty goddamn boring in a matter of minutes."

But what does it mean? You can ask him yourself at the official dedication of the piece on Monday, March 31, at 5 p.m.