Sahala

This group of multimedia sculptures [2003.3.3, 2003.3.11, 2003.3.12, 2003.3.2] was commissioned for the 1998 “Venezia Aperto Vetro” exhibition in Venice, Italy. The title is taken from the biblical phrase “for everything there is a season,” which in Italian is translated “ogni cosa ha la sua stagione.” Meitner titled the individual sculptures by breaking up the Italian words differently: hence, ognico, sahala, suasta, gione. The title of this suite of sculptures was chosen because the theme of the 1998 “Aperto Vetro” was “the four seasons,” a traditional subject in graphics and decorative arts and evocative of the music of the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Although the respective coloring of the four works was intended to evoke each of the four seasons, the subject meant little to Meitner, who, in his customary manner, endowed the pieces with their own obscure meanings. The blown and flameworked elements of the sculptures were made by Edwin Dieperink, the found furnace-worked flower was made by Fabio Fornasier, and the enameled and decal-decorated glass tiles were made by Meitner. Ognico, the white monkey, evokes winter; Sahala, the seated figure wearing a pointed hat and offering a tray of Venetian sweets, implies spring; Suasta, the bird on a branch beneath a goblet, suggests summer; and Gione, the headless figure with claw feet, covered in rust, refers to fall.