By: Heather Savage
Located in the northern part of downtown Houston is the
Lyric Center
building. This building is home to a fascinating sculpture called
the
Virtuoso. The Virtuoso towers the street corner of Smith and Prairie at
thirty-six feet tall. It is a figurative work of art that is three
dimensional.
Its creator, David Adickes, sculpted its white cellist
body
out of thirty-six tons of steel and concrete in 1983. While approaching
the solid white
cellist body, music can be heard continuously and
drowns the rush hour roar of
traffic that floods past.
 |
| The Virtuoso by David Adickes A steel and concrete statue |
The music seems
to grab your attention and serenade you into
the art piece. Behind the
cellist at its base are the remaining three members
of the quartet; and
these woodwind musicians also have the bodily appearance of
a cello. These three supporting musicians consist of a violin, flute, as well as
another
cello. At first glance, it appears the Virtuoso cellist is
playing his cello;
taking a closer look behind the piece you can see
the cellist body is formed
from the cello itself. Allusively, his
hands float above the body, holding his
bow that strums the hypnotic
notes. The piece begins to take on magical
attributes that holds your
interest and keeps you desiring more. Looking closer
at the cellist
face, musical notes could almost be seen; such as a quarter note
might
just form the nose and the left eye.
A thoughtful conclusion could be
made that the cellist is
one with his cello and his music; as it is most
definitely a part of him.
