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January 2002. Granite, steel. Dimensions: 13.5 × 24 × 6 in (34 × 61 × 15 cm).
Private collection
Planche, 2002
Taking its title from the gymnastic planche—a horizontal handstand in which the body appears suspended against gravity—Planche exemplifies John Van Alstine’s exploration of the implied human figure. Rather than depicting the body literally, Van Alstine translates its physical dynamics into stone and steel. Weight, extension, tension, balance, and counterbalance transform the sculpture into a kind of arrested gesture. Like the gymnast, whose apparent stillness depends upon extraordinary exertion, the work suggests movement held momentarily in equilibrium. Throughout Van Alstine’s sculpture, references to dance, gymnastics, and fencing provide a vocabulary for this choreography of materials: granite assumes the weight and gravitational presence of the body, while steel extends, braces, pivots, and reaches. Planche thus occupies a space between abstraction and figuration, inviting the viewer to experience sculpture not simply as an arrangement of materials, but as a body negotiating gravity.
January 2002. Granite, steel. Dimensions: 13.5 × 24 × 6 in (34 × 61 × 15 cm).
Private collection
Planche, 2002
Taking its title from the gymnastic planche—a horizontal handstand in which the body appears suspended against gravity—Planche exemplifies John Van Alstine’s exploration of the implied human figure. Rather than depicting the body literally, Van Alstine translates its physical dynamics into stone and steel. Weight, extension, tension, balance, and counterbalance transform the sculpture into a kind of arrested gesture. Like the gymnast, whose apparent stillness depends upon extraordinary exertion, the work suggests movement held momentarily in equilibrium. Throughout Van Alstine’s sculpture, references to dance, gymnastics, and fencing provide a vocabulary for this choreography of materials: granite assumes the weight and gravitational presence of the body, while steel extends, braces, pivots, and reaches. Planche thus occupies a space between abstraction and figuration, inviting the viewer to experience sculpture not simply as an arrangement of materials, but as a body negotiating gravity.
