Roaring - Robert Yoder

Where is it?

Concourse A

Yoder's column can be found between Alonso's Paradise and Hammer's The Naturalist's Day.

About the Art

Yoder’s geometrically abstract art is born from recycled materials – if not physically created with salvaged items, inspired by the graphic elements. The artist emphasizes the primary palette of road signs (yellow, black, orange and white), the tattered surfaces (damage inflicted upon the sign undeniably in its previous use), and the abbreviated roadside wordage. Truncating the semiotics associated with road signs, Yoder’s artwork is a comment about what is referred to as routine. The mosaic tiles with a matte surface are pieces of split face marble.

"Road signs are the banal, ignored markers for our cities. No longer a specific signifier, they become a symbol for location. Although they remain identifiable parts of signs, my attention is now shifted to their color differences and graphic qualities." – Robert Yoder

The Details

Artist

Robert Yoder

Year

2004

Medium

Mosaic column (smalti, split face marble)

Dimensions

Approximately 10' in circumference (3' diameter) x 17' high

Did you know?

Split face marble is marble that is usually sawed on the stone bed and split by hand or machine so that the face of the stone exhibits its natural texture.

About the Artist

Robert Yoder is taking his place within a long tradition of artists who have used found materials to create layered abstract artworks. Like Louise Nevelson, an obvious influence, Yoder's art is "so gorgeous [...] so full of restrained energy, and the material is so insistently itself, that it seems like nothing we have ever seen," according to writer Victoria Josslin.

Short Bio

Yoder received his B.F.A. from James Madison University in Virginia and later earned his M.F.A. from the University of Washington in Seattle. The artist is a past recipient of the Betty Bowen Award, an award presented by the Seattle Art Museum to young artists in our region that show exceptional promise. His artwork is featured in many corporate and public collections in the region. Yoder's first integrated public art commission was for Seattle's CenturyLink Stadium.

Similar Artwork

Work by Robert Yoder

Found near the Seahawks Exhibition Center at CenturyLink Field, Yoder created a painted concrete design on the sidewalk titled Montgomery Line.

At the Airport

Art critic Victoria Josslin compared Yoder's penchant for found objects to that of Louise Nevelson's. Would you like to find these similarities yourself? Visit Nevelson's piece entitled Night Flight #1 while you're at Sea-Tac by clicking the link below in the Connected Stories module.

Roaring - Robert Yoder

Inspired by aerial views, city design, maps, and architectural drawings, this work investigates landscape as subject matter.