At the press preview, yesterday, the star power of Maya Lin was quite apparent. Usually these affairs consist of 6 to 8 people representing mostly the print media. A good thirty people showed up. A rare appearance by a KUOW reporter meant that the Public Radio station was actually paying attention to what was in their own back yard. The local television stations were busy chasing disasters and reporting on traffic so gave the event a pass. Most of the press came from the print media all over the state although I was pleased to see Seattle's number one art blogger, Carolyn Zick included on the list.. Maya Lin is big news. With this huge swarm of reporters, the artist had the hive in short order and on the same page. While I marveled at this ability, I remembered what she had to go through with her first major work The Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. Angry committees, hostile figurative sculpture unions with congressional clout, and other grand standing politicians all making air time in the "culture wars". What could the Seattle Press Corps possibly do to match that? The answer is of course nothing. This thought led me to wonder what was it like being Maya Lin.

The pressures must be intense to maintain the level of excellence that the public demands of Maya Lin. She is a hero and an icon to many people who have a strong emotional attachment to her work. In Systematic Landscapes, Lin delivers the goods in both quality and quantity. This exhibition has to be viewed in the context of a body of work that is unified in both time and space. The works were all created in late 2005 or in 2006. They sprawl across the Stroum and East galleries along with the mezzanine. This proximity lends the chance for the viewer to inhabit the creative impulse which drives Maya Lin.

"The works created, both small- and large-scale installations, reveal new and at times unexpected views of the natural world: from the topology of the ocean floor, to the stratified layers of a mountain, to a form that sits between water and earth.
Utilizing the way in which scientists and computers see our world, drawing on images based on sonar views of the ocean floor as well as aerial and satellite views of the land, I have started to translate that technological view into sculptural forms. In so doing, I have begun to create works that present a somewhat systematized view of natural phenomena."
Maya Lin

The first piece you encounter is Water Line 2006, aluminum tubing and paint, 34'10" x 29'2" x 19'. Bent onto the topographical shape of an Island off of Antarctica, you view the piece from the top of the mezzanine at the surface level. When you descend down the staircase and look up you see an impossible topography from beneath the ocean floor. You are walking under the landscape.

In an adjoining gallery, Blue Lake Pass 2006, Duraflake particleboard, [each block is 3' x 3'] (20 blocks total), 18' x 23'. This installation allows the viewer to experience the topography of the landscape by walking through it. The geographic hills and berms of southwestern Colorado glide right by you at waist level. It takes an architectural form, [scale models] and turns into the viewer becoming a giant in the landscape. Think of Goya's Colossus, and compositionally you are there

Step through the corridor and you face 2' x 4' landscape 2006, wood, 36' x 53' x 10'. Initially composed at a warehouse 15 minutes away from the Henry Art Gallery, 65,000 sawn two by fours are glued and nailed together to create a work that you can possibly walk on. The topography shifts depending on the angle that you are viewing it. It could be a sand dune or and ocean wave. This ambiguity allows you the choice of creating you own mental landscape to match the installation.

The three large installation are simple yet epic examples of how Lin views the landscape. Above, Below, Through and On are four simultaneous aesthetic channels tuned into her spare elegant style. The Bodies of Water Series, 2006, Baltic Birch Plywood, give us scale models of the Red, Black, and Caspian Seas. Pin River-Columbia 2006, straight pins, 15' x 16'8" renders the mighty river as a wall drawing with shadows as gestures. The models for the Confluence Project along the trail of Lewis and Clark are also a fascinating insight to an epic large scale public work in progress.

The exhibition is a large endeavor for the Henry Art Gallery. Richard Andrews, Director of the Gallery, personally curated this ambitious effort.

"Maya Lin has an extraordinary ability to convey complex and poetic ideas using simple forms and natural materials, wedding a deep interest in the forces and forms of nature with a long-term investigation into the possibilities of sculpture to embody meaning. Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes offers a deep view into her work and an immersive experience for visitors. 
Richard Andrews

At the end of the exhibition, I was left still wondering what did it mean Being Maya Lin. Through the superb execution of the installation, the eloquence of the artist and the scope of the ideas, I felt I had a glimmer of the truth and then like a chimera it disappeared leaving me slightly ahead of where I started. See the video here.

Maya Lin: Systemic Landscapes is organized for the Henry Art Gallery by Director Richard Andrews. Major support for this exhibition has been provided by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Gagosian Gallery, ArtsFund, The Boeing Company, PONCHO, and donors to the Special Exhibition Initiative. Additional support provided by Peter Norton Family Foundation, Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation, Haas Charitable Trusts, Simpson Timber Company Northwest, NBBJ Group, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Trillium Corporation, and the Washington State Arts Commission. In-kind support provided by Grant Hyatt Seattle, KrekowJennings Inc., Vulcan Inc., and Visarc, Inc. Media partners include The Seattle Times, KUOW 94.9, and The Stranger.