maya lin at sd contemporary art museum

the maya lin exhibit currently showing at the downtown san diego museum of contemporary art has several creative and unique installations, and one absolutely spectacular 2400 square foot piece, "2x4", shown above. comprised entirely of 50,000 2x4's of wood standing on end, varying in height to 10 feet (the longest cut at your local lumber yard), the blocks undulate into a large rising wave. while all of her pieces in the exhibit are inspired by geology, geography and geomorphology, in my opinion 2x4 is the most impressive expression of these processes. it's worth the price of admission alone (better yet, consider an annual membership for $75. it will get you and a friend - actually, you and a guest and your friend and their guest - in to both the downtown and la jolla locations for a year).

another interesting room-size piece was a visual representation of a site on the mid-atlantic ridge that has risen high enough to create bouvet island near antarctica. by showing the geologic structure as a gridded series of curving, thin aluminum tubing, hanging from the ceiling and attached to the walls, viewers can walk underneath the installation and get a feel for something than can typically only be visulized on a computer screen.

maya lin is best known for designing the vietnam veterans memorial, and it's clear that she's able to make powerful statements with her work. san diego is fortunate to have an artist of this caliber displaying her art - definitely a positive sign for mcasd and the arts community.