As much as I dislike posting things that have gotten too much attention around the Web already, every time I see Paige Bradley’s Expansion sculpture, I’m re-captivated.
This piece contains such harmony of design, medium and message. It is a woman meditating in lotus position. Realizing that fine-tuned figure work had lost its sway in the art world in recent years, Bradley literally LET GO of the piece, willingly allowing it shatter. She then cast it in bronze and arranged for the inner lighting fixtures.
The very act of meditating involves releasing the structures we create and being open to what emerges from within. I can think of no better way to demonstrate that concept artistically.
Let this be a lesson to us all to let things crack and open to expansion when the time is right. Sometimes we have to release our own rigid structures, no matter how long we’ve worked to cultivate and perfect them (I personally have enjoyed some of my finest moment when dropping some of my own stubbornness!). We never know what light lurks beneath the surface.
SheWalksSoftly 
11 responses to “Paige Bradley: Expansion”
Awesome post! I have not seen this sculpture. What you wrote in your last paragraph is very apropro with something going on with a friend of mine right now.
Where is it? Looks like NYC (where I live). I want to see it in person!
I’m actually not sure where it is. I’d love to see it in person as well.
This piece bugs me for some reason. The model has such a smug, self-satisfied look on her face. I want to shake her awake and make her face real-life, which is not so euphoric nor nirvanic. Get up off your haunches and get a job, cracker.
Hahaha…I love this comment!
Vera Bradley…
[…]Paige Bradley: Expansion « SheWalksSoftly[…]…
I love this piece with my whole being!
So glad!
Sujet super intéressant !
Please, could you tell me the right adress in which this wonderful sculpure is?? Thank you
I’m not sure! So sorry.