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In This Issue:
by Brad Howe
Each week through the opening of the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, BWH Bulletin features a work of art from the center’s collection. More than 20 contemporary pieces will be permanently displayed throughout the building to promote healing, conversation and thought.
Brad Howe created “Ping” in 2007 from aluminum and polyurethane. In his words:
The sculpture ‘Ping’ came about from an initial desire to produce a body of wall sculptures experimenting with the icon of the famous cartoon thought bubble, but from a unique perspective. I wanted the bubble to be empty, as if free from thought in a Zen sort of way. The first sculptures were simple white ovals with black borders. I then realized there could be multiple layers of thought in a Zen experience. Eventually I worked my way towards a sort of topography of empty thoughts, and they started to take on patterns I recognized from nature. The sculpture ‘Ping’ conveys the quiet state of meditation and looks very much like the concentric ripples on the surface of a pond created by raindrops. The name ‘Ping’ comes from imagining a tone moving through space like those ripples move across the pond.”