Mining Industries: Downtown Boston

Norwood Viviano, Mining Industries: Downtown Boston, 2015, glass and steel, 39 12 × 13 38 × 16 in. (100.3 × 34.0 × 40.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Richard T. Evans Fund and the Decorative Arts and Crafts Endowment and gift of Ms. Pace Barnes, 2017.28, © 2015, Norwood Viviano

Artwork Details

Title
Mining Industries: Downtown Boston
Date
2015
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
39 12 × 13 38 × 16 in. (100.3 × 34.0 × 40.6 cm)
Copyright
© 2015, Norwood Viviano
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Richard T. Evans Fund and the Decorative Arts and Crafts Endowment and gift of Ms. Pace Barnes
Mediums
Mediums Description
glass and steel
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape — Massachusetts — Boston
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial — skyscraper
  • Object — written matter — map
Object Number
2017.28

Artwork Description

In his Mining Industries series, Viviano uses high-resolution maps to render digital models of contemporary urban areas. He then prints these models with a 3-D printer and casts the patterns in glass, overlaying the resulting cityscapes onto historical maps and supporting them with fabricated steel. By revealing the transformation of each city over time, Viviano's artworks tell larger stories about the effects of urbanization and industry on our fragile communities. At the same time, the artist offers a reflection on the nature of the data itself, which sometimes conceals as much as it reveals.

Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019

Works by this artist (5 items)

Kenneth M. Adams, Evening, ca. 1950-1960, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1991.205.2
Evening
Dateca. 1950-1960
oil on canvas
On view
Kenneth M. Adams, Deer Track (Pa-ee-na), after 1924, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1991.205.1
Deer Track (Pa-ee-na)
Dateafter 1924
oil on canvas
On view
Kenneth M. Adams, Taos Indian Woman, ca. 1920-1930, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1993.48.1
Taos Indian Woman
Dateca. 1920-1930
oil on canvas
On view
Harvest
Date1940
lithograph on paper
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 2016.11 - SAAM-2016.11_6 - 124929
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery
November 13, 2015March 6, 2022
Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world.

More Artworks from the Collection

Unidentified, Pieced quilt (Flying Geese), ca. 1845-1850, calicoes and chintz, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia S. Smith, 1998.149.33
Pieced quilt (Flying Geese)
Artist
Unidentified
Dateca. 1845-1850
calicoes and chintz
Not on view
Louise Todd Cope, Flax II, ca. 1970s, flax and linen, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Helen Williams Drutt English and H. Peter Stern in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, 2007.47.8
Flax II
Dateca. 1970s
flax and linen
Not on view
Katherine Lewis, Rope Coil, 2011, willow, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Martha G. Ware and Steven R. Cole, 2011.47.39
Rope Coil
Date2011
willow
Not on view
Unidentified, Untitled, ca. 1860, cotton, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia S. Smith, 2016.57.10
Untitled
Artist
Unidentified
Dateca. 1860
cotton
Not on view