Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway
On Permanent View
The Kistefos Museum has unveiled a monumental sculpture by Dana Schutz in the sculpture park. Created specifically for the park, Blind Boat represents a significant development in Schutz’s practice. Long-recognized as one of the most distinctive painters of her generation, Schutz began making sculptures in 2018. This ambitious new work is her first outdoor sculpture at this scale, standing seven meters tall and weighing more than 12 tons. These works are first modeled in clay before being cast in bronze, with raw, tactile surfaces that bear the trace of the artist’s hand.
Blind Boat demonstrates Schutz’s unique ability to construct dynamic constellations of forms and figures. The sculpture depicts a boat carrying three characters, surrounded by elements such as a stylized sun, hollowed-out eyeballs, and a carrion bird holding a pupil in its beak. The figures in the boat are either blind or one-eyed, evoking the Cyclopes of Greek mythology. The central figure holds their companion’s eyeball aloft as a guiding light. At Kistefos, the sculpture is situated in dialogue with the surrounding landscape and the waterfall behind it. The continuous sound of rushing water enhances the work’s sensory qualities, creating an interplay between the solidity of cast bronze and the perception of a dynamic sculpture in motion.
Learn more at Kistefos Museum.