Capturing Energy And The Figurative Cosmos According To Dustin Yellin

How One Artist Captured The Energy Of Ballet In Sculpture
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Countless elements pulling together into one form, directed by will, energy.

Science tells us that we are matter; theologians say that we are spirit. Today, we accept that humans are energy too. Some innate ordered intelligence allows this energy to direct the laws of attraction/repulsion, commanding quarks and gluons to pull with and against; adding, arranging, discarding elements to the mass of distinct particles that comprise us.

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web1.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

At any moment the inventory of our composition is not what it was yesterday, particular from what it will be tomorrow, always in motion, within it a record of our history. Energy is what dancers summon by their will -- then command, allow, direct, capture, release -- their collections of atoms electric, a magnetic pulling and propelling together as one, as many, with nuance.

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web2.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here in February these forms and their energy are frozen in layers of glass, arranged on enormous slides, their components visible without microscope. Dustin Yellin neatly spaces the stacked slices of stilled movement across the cosmos of this great minimalist hall at Lincoln Center and hits them with focused beams of light.

And what do they reveal? A myriad of found objects, clippings, images, textures, mirrors, gestures, memories, emotions. The forms and their components blast apart and swirl and swarm and realign. All are in motion, and all are stilled, better seen when you exert your command of motion, your willful direction of energy.

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web3.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web4.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web5.jpgDustin Yellin. Cross section. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web6.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web7.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web8.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web9.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web10.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web11.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web12.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web18.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web17.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web15.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web13.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web14.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web16.jpgDustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2015-02-04-brooklynstreetartdustinyellinNYCBjaimerojo0215web19.jpgDustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New York City Ballet is offering free, open hours for the general public to view this exhibition, fifteen works of a larger collection entitled "Psychogeographies," on the following dates: Thursday, February 12 through Sunday, February 22 - Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon; and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For further information go to:

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