Impermanent Column

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Local artist Thomas Skomski did “Impermanent Column" (cast concrete, 252" x 228" x 84"; 1993) for the University of Illinois, Springfield. The university is adjacent to the state capital, and that location is central to the sculpture's concept. The generic neo-classical column found in government architecture becomes destabilized, or impermanent here. The piece is a monument to change and was sponsored by the school's art in architecture program.

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“Skomski received a B.F.A from the Northern Illinois University in 1972, and then a M.F.A from the School of the Art Institutue in Chicago in 1986. He worked as a Graphic Designer from 1972 to 1986, and then a Set Designer in Chicago. From 1983 to 1985 he was a Curator at MoMing Dance and Art Center. He had his first solo exhibition in 1988 at Pascal de Sarthe Gallery in San Francisco and since has had a number of solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.”

“Ideas, concepts, feelings, have the peculiar ability of being able to flip into their opposites, such as reality and illusion, figure and ground, the impersonal and the transpersonal.” Says sculptor Thomas Skomski, “The basis of my work lies within this interplay. I am drawn to materials which are apart of everyday experience. Differing levels of opposites are placed back to back. Objects are both seen and seen through. There is a moment prior to conceptualization which can be easily overlooked, when knowing and not knowing exist simultaneously. This simultaneous vision proves a valuable inconvenience.”

Impermanent Column

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