Sculpture - Jan. 2011

Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page
sculpture January/February 2011

Vol. 30 No. 1
A publication of the
International Sculpture Center
www.sculpture.org
Guerra de la Paz
Jim Dine
Ellen Driscoll
Corban Walker
Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page
sculpture
A
Previous Page | Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out | Front Cover | Search Issue | Next Page
BEMaGS
F
________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
______________ ______________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
__________________________
__________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
___________________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
From the Chairman ISC Board of Directors

As I begin my term as Chairman of the International Sculpture Chairman: Marc LeBaron, Lincoln, NE
Center Board, I would like to take this opportunity to thank outgoing
Chair Josh Kanter for his hard work and dedication over the last eight Chakaia Booker, New York, NY
years. As Board Chair, Josh initiated and led the strategic planning Robert Edwards, Naples, FL
process that will provide a roadmap for the ISC for years to come. Bill FitzGibbons, San Antonio, TX
He was also instrumental in overseeing the review and update of Ralfonso Gschwend, Switzerland
the organization’s bylaws and policy manual. His forward-thinking David Handley, Australia
approach will impact the ISC far into the future. Josh will continue Paul Hubbard, Philadelphia, PA
to serve on the Board for another year and will be heading its Ree Kaneko, Omaha, NE
Development Committee. Josh Kanter, Salt Lake City, UT
Two retiring Board members also deserve recognition for their ser- Gertrud Kohler-Aeschlimann, Switzerland
vice to the ISC. Patricia Meadows, an active and engaged member, Creighton Michael, Mt. Kisco, NY
has served as Board Secretary since 2008. Albert Paley, who has George W. Neubert, Brownville, NE
served on the ISC Board for nine years, provided leadership and guid- F. Douglass Schatz, Potsdam, NY
ance on a variety of critical issues. Their departures will certainly Walter Schatz, Nashville, TN
leave a void. Sincere thanks to both Patricia and Albert for their ser- Mary Ellen Scherl, Tenafly, NJ
vice, and we look forward to their continued support of the organiza- STRETCH, Kansas City, MO
tion. Steinunn Thorarinsdottir, Iceland
This is an exciting time for the ISC, and without question, the Boaz Vaadia, New York, NY
future looks bright. Our strategic plan outlines multi-year goals for
program development, membership benefits, enhanced Web ser- Chairmen Emeriti: Robert Duncan, Lincoln, NE
vices, exciting events, and, of course, continued excellent publica- John Henry, Chattanooga, TN
tions. Peter Hobart, Italy
Through all of these new goals and improved programs, we continue Robert Vogele, Hinsdale, IL
to focus on our mission: expand public understanding and apprecia-
tion of sculpture internationally; demonstrate the power of sculpture Founder: Elden Tefft, Lawrence, KS
to educate and effect social change; engage artists and art profession-
als in a dialogue to advance the art form; and promote a supportive
environment for sculpture and sculptors. Lifetime Achievement
I would also like to share some brief information about myself. My in Contemporary
wife, Kathy, and I reside in Lincoln, Nebraska, and have two daugh- Sculpture Recipients
ters, Katie and Kassy. We have been collectors and active supporters Magdalena Abakanowicz
of the arts for a long time and have been involved in numerous arts Fletcher Benton
organizations, including the Sheldon Art Museum in Lincoln. We enjoy Louise Bourgeois
collecting and living with art, and we especially enjoy working with Anthony Caro
young emerging artists to help build their careers. Elizabeth Catlett
We have a busy and productive year ahead of us. I look forward to John Chamberlain
serving as your Board Chair and to sharing ISC news and accomplish- Eduardo Chillida
ments with you in future letters. Working together, we will continue Christo & Jeanne-Claude
to create a more effective and vibrant ISC. Mark di Suvero
Richard Hunt
—Marc LeBaron Phillip King
Chairman, ISC Board of Directors William King
Manuel Neri
Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen
Nam June Paik
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Gio’ Pomodoro
Robert Rauschenberg
George Rickey
George Segal
Kenneth Snelson
William Tucker
4 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture January/February 2011

Vol. 30 No. 1
A publication of the
International Sculpture Center
54
30
Departments Features
14 Forum: So You Want To Go To Art School 24 Guerra de la Paz: Re-Fabricating Fashion by Rebecca Dimling Cochran
by Daniel Grant
30 A Poet and His Muses: A Conversation with Jim Dine by Collette Chattopadhyay
16 Itinerary
36 Ved Prakash Gupta: Telling It Like It Is by Minhazz Majumdar
22 Commissions
80 ISC News 40 Leaning Into the Unknown: A Conversation with Bob Trotman by Mark Washburn
46 Adam Walls: Animated Steel by Amelia Trevelyan
Reviews 48 Finding Resonant Details in a Big Picture: A Conversation with Ellen Driscoll by Jan Riley
72 New York: Eva Hesse 54 Mary Early: Complexity in Simplicity by Twylene Moyer
73 Sonoma, California: John Toki
58 Corban Walker: Perceptual Encounters by John Gayer
73 San Francisco: Ginger Wolfe-Suarez
74 Washington, DC, and Arlington, Virginia:
Mia Feuer
75 Atlanta: Gyun Hur 48
75 New York: Jeremy Dean
76 New York: Meredith James
77 New York: Elke Solomon
77 Cincinnati: Alice Pixley Young
78 Rome: Gino De Dominicis
79 New Delhi: Kishore Chakraborty
36
On the Cover: Guerra de la Paz, Red Carpet
Keeper (detail), 2009. Mannequin on stand,
found garments and boots, neckties, wire,
and carpet runner, 82 x 36 x 48 in. Photo-
graph: Courtesy Guerra de la Paz.
24
Sculpture January/February 2011 5
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
isc
I N T E R N AT I O N A L S C U L P T U R E C E N T E R SCULPTURE MAGAZINE
Executive Director Johannah Hutchison Editor Glenn Harper Address all editorial correspondence to:
Director of Conferences and Events Dawn Molignano Managing Editor Twylene Moyer Sculpture
Office Manager Denise Jester Editorial Assistants Elizabeth Lynch, Beth Wilson 1633 Connecticut Avenue NW, 4th Floor
Executive Assistant Kelly Lehman Design Eileen Schramm visual communication Washington, DC 20009
Grant Writer/Development Coordinator Kara Kaczmarzyk Advertising Sales Manager Brenden O’Hanlon Phone: 202.234.0555, fax 202.234.2663
Membership Coordinator Matt Lucash Contributing Editors Maria Carolina Baulo (Buenos E-mail: ____________
gharper@sculpture.org
Membership Associate Emily Fest Aires), Roger Boyce (Christchurch), Susan Canning (New Sculpture On-Line on the International
Conferences and Events Associate Valerie Friedman York), Marty Carlock (Boston), Jan Garden Castro (New Sculpture Center Web site:
Administrative Associate Eva Calder Powel York), Collette Chattopadhyay (Los Angeles), Ina Cole www.sculpture.org
Web Manager Karin Jervert (London), Ana Finel Honigman (Berlin), John K. Grande
(Montreal), Kay Itoi (Tokyo), Matthew Kangas (Seattle), Advertising information
ISC Headquarters Zoe Kosmidou (Athens), Angela Levine (Tel Aviv), Brian E-mail <advertising@sculpture.org>
______________
19 Fairgrounds Road, Suite B McAvera (Belfast), Robert C. Morgan (New York), Robert
Hamilton, New Jersey 08619 Preece (Rotterdam), Brooke Kamin Rapaport (New
Phone: 609.689.1051, fax 609.689.1061 York), Ken Scarlett (Melbourne), Peter Selz (Berkeley),
E-mail: __________
isc@sculpture.org Sarah Tanguy (Washington), Laura Tansini (Rome)
Each issue of Sculpture is indexed in The Art Index and

the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA).
I N T E R N AT I O N A L S C U L P T U R E C E N T E R C O N T E M P O R A R Y S C U L P T U R E C I R C L E
The International Sculpture Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization The ISC Board of Directors gratefully acknowledges the generosity of our
that provides programming and services supported by contributions, grants, members and donors in our Contemporary Sculpture Circle: those who have
sponsorships, and memberships. contributed $350 and above.
Major Donors ($50,000+) Chairman’s Circle ($10,000–49,999)

Fletcher Benton Magdalena Abakanowicz Woods Davy Nathan Slate Joseph Tom Otterness
Rob Fisher John Adduci Stephen De Staebler Joshua S. Kanter Frances & Albert Paley
John Henry Atlantic Foundation Karen & Robert Duncan Kanter Family Foundation Joel Perlman
Richard Hunt Bill Barrett Terry and Robert Edwards Keeler Foundation Pat Renick Gift Fund
Johnson Art and Education Janet Blocker Lin Emery Phillip King Estate of John A. Renna
Foundation Blue Star Contemporary Fred Eychaner William King Salt Lake Art Center
J. Seward Johnson, Jr. Art Center Virginio Ferrari Gertrud & Heinz Kohler- Lincoln Schatz
Jun & Ree Kaneko Willard Boepple Carole Feuerman Aeschlimann June & Paul Schorr, III
Robert Mangold Debra Cafaro & Terrance Doris & Donald Fisher Anne Kohs Associates Judith Shea
Fred & Lena Meijer Livingston Linda Fleming Koret Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Robert
I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation William Carlson Gene Flores Marc LeBaron Slotkin
Arnaldo Pomodoro Willie Cole Viola Frey Toby D. Lewis Kiki Smith
Russ RuBert Sir Anthony Caro Alan Gibbs Philanthropic Fund Katherine & Kenneth
Jon & Mary Shirley Foundation Chelsea College of Art Neil Goodman Lincoln Industries Snelson
James Surls and Design Michael Gutzwiller Donald Lipski Mark di Suvero
William Tucker Dale Chihuly Richard Heinrich Marlborough Gallery Steinunn Thorarinsdottir
Bernar Venet Erik & Michele Christiansen Daniel A. Henderson Denise Milan University of the Arts
Citigroup John Hock Jesus Moroles London
John Clement Stephen Hokanson David Nash Boaz Vaadia
John Cleveland Bryan Hunt National Endowment Mia Westerlund
Clinton Family Fund Jon Isherwood for the Arts Elizabeth Erdreich White
Richard Cohen Joyce and Seward Johnson Alissa Neglia Nadine Witkin, Estate of
Don Cooperman Foundation Manuel Neri Isaac Witkin
Director’s Circle ($5,000–9,999)

Sydney & Walda Besthoff Michael D. Hall Merchandise Mart Don Porcaro Sebastián
Chakaia Booker David Handley Properties Patricia Renick Lisa & Tom Smith
Otto M. Budig Family Peter C. Hobart Creighton Michael Henry Richardson Duane Stranahan, Jr.
Foundation Mary Ann Keeler Peter Moore Melody Sawyer Richardson STRETCH
Leah Chase Gloria Kisch National Gallery, London Riva Yares Gallery Takahisa Suzuki
Lisa Colburn Cynthia Madden Leitner/ Ralph S. O’Connor Wendy Ross Tate
Bill FitzGibbons Museum of Outdoor Arts Claes Oldenburg & Coosje Doug Schatz Laura Thorne
Gagosian Gallery Susan Lloyd van Bruggen Walter Schatz Robert E. Vogele
Gallery Kasahara Marlene & William Mary O’Shaughnessy Mary Ellen Scherl Harry T. Wilks
The James J. and Joan A. Louchheim Barry Parker Sculpture Community/ Isaac Witkin
Gardner Foundation Patricia Meadows Judy Pfaff Sculpture.net
6 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
About the ISC Sculpture Magazine

The International Sculpture Center, a member-supported, nonprofit organization Published 10 times per year, Sculpture is dedicated to all forms of contemporary
founded in 1960, advances the creation and understanding of sculpture and its sculpture. The members’ edition includes the Insider newsletter, which contains
unique, vital contribution to society. The ISC seeks to expand public understanding timely information on professional opportunities for sculptors, as well as a list
and appreciation of sculpture internationally, demonstrate the power of sculpture of recent public art commissions and announcements of members’ accomplish-
to educate, effect social change, engage artists and arts professionals in a ments.
dialogue to advance the art form, and promote a supportive environment for
www.sculpture.org
sculpture and sculptors. Members include sculptors, collectors, patrons, educa-
The ISC’s award-winning Web site <www.sculpture.org> is the most comprehensive
tors, and museum professionals—anyone with an interest in and commitment
resource for information on sculpture. It features Portfolio, an on-line slide
to the field of sculpture.
registry and referral system providing detailed information about artists and their
Membership work to buyers and exhibitors; the Sculpture Parks and Gardens Directory, with
ISC membership includes subscriptions to Sculpture and Insider; access to listings of over 250 outdoor sculpture destinations; Opportunities, a membership
International Sculpture Conferences; free registration in Portfolio, the ISC’s service with commissions, jobs, and other professional listings; plus the ISC
on-line sculpture registry; and discounts on publications, supplies, and services. newsletter and extensive information about the world of sculpture.
International Sculpture Conferences Education Programs and Special Events
The ISC’s International Sculpture Conferences gather sculpture enthusiasts ISC programs include the Outstanding Sculpture Educator Award, the Outstanding
from all over the world to network and dialogue about technical, aesthetic, Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Awards, and the Lifetime
and professional issues. Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture and gala. Other special events
include opportunities for viewing art and for meeting colleagues in the field.
This program is made possible in

This issue is supported part by funds from the New Jersey
in part by a grant from State Council on the Arts/Department
the National Endowment of State, a Partner Agency of the
for the Arts. National Endowment for the Arts.
Patron’s Circle ($2,500–4,999)

Henry Buhl Federated Department Ghirardelli Chocolates McFadden Winery Elisabeth Swanson
Elizabeth Catlett Stores Foundation Grounds for Sculpture Carole Mickett & Robert Doris & Peter Tilles
Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery Francis Ford Coppola Presents Agnes Gund & Daniel Shapiro Stackhouse Edward Tufte
Essex Fine Art Frederik Meijer Gardens & Terrence Karpowicz Museum of Glass Geraldine Warner
Sculpture Park Nanci Lanni Carol L. Sarosik Marsha & Robin Williams
Friend’s Circle ($1,000–2,499)

Bishop & Mrs. Claude Forrest Gee Alvin & Judith Kraus Steven Oliver Stephen Shapiro
Alexander James Geier Gary Kulak Angelina Pacaldo Alan Shepp
Neil Bardack Piero Giadrossi John & Deborah Lahey William Padnos & Mary Pannier Marvin & Sondra Smalley
Verina Baxter DeWitt Godfrey Jon Lash Philip Palmedo Storm King Art Center
Bruce Beasley Helyn Goldenberg Eric & Audrey Lester Justin Peyser Julian Taub
Joseph Becherer Christina Gospondnetich Daryl Lillie Meinhard Pfanner, art Terry Dintenfass, Inc.
Tom Bollinger & Kim Nikolaev Paul & Dedrea Gray Jeff Lowe connection international The Todd and Betiana Simon
Paige Bradley Richard Green Peter Lundberg Playboy Enterprises, Inc Foundation
Sylvia Brown Francis Greenburger Steve Maloney Cynthia Polsky Tootsie Roll Industries
Elizabeth Burstein Ralf Gschwend Lewis Manilow Allen Ralston William Traver Gallery
Giancarlo Calicchia Hans Van De Bovenkamp LTD Martin Margulies Mel & Leta Ramos UBS Art
Chihuly Studio Dr. LaRue Harding Robert E. McKenzie & Theresia Carl & Toni Randolph Steve Vail
Paula Cooper Gallery Ed Hardy Habit/Hardy LLC Wolf-McKenzie Andre Rice De Wain & Kiana Valentine
Cornish College of the Arts Michelle Hobart Jill & Paul Meister Benjamin & Donna Rosen Allan & Judith Voigt
James Cottrell Vicki Hopton Kenneth Merlau Milton Rosenberg Karn Vongsingthong
Les & Ginger Crane Iowa West Foundation Jon Miller Saul Rosenzweig Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Charles Cross George Johnson Museum of Contemporary Art, Aden Ross Alex Wagman
Rick & Dana Davis Philip & Paula Kirkeby Chicago Carmella Saraceno Michael Windfelt
Richard & Valerie Deutsch Howard Kirschbaum Alan Osborne Noah Savett Mary & John Young
James Dubin Stephen & Frankie Knapp Raymond Nasher Jean & Raymond V. J. Schrag
Bob Emser Phlyssa Koshland Sassona Norton Marc Selwyn
Professional Circle ($350–999)

555 International Inc.•Ruth Abernethy•Linda Ackley-Eaker•DJ Adams• Gibson•Edmund Glass•Roger Golden•Yuebin Gong•Gordon Huether Neubert•John Nicolai•James Nickel•Donald Noon•Joseph O’Connell•
Mine Akin•Elizabeth Aralia•Michelle Armitage•Uluhan Atac•Michael Studio•Thomas Gottsleben•Todd Graham•Peter Gray•Glenn Green• Thomas O’Hara•Michelle O’Michael•Frank Ozereko•Scott Palsce•Gertrud
Aurbach•Helena Bacardi-Kiely•Brooke Barrie•Jerry Ross Barrish•Carlos Gabriele Poehlmann Grundig•Barbara Grygutis•Simon Gudgeon•Wataru Parker•Ronald Parks•Jolanta Pawlak•Carol Peligian•Beverly Pepper•Anne
Basanta•Fatma Basoglu-Takiiil•Edward Benavente•Joshua Bederson• Hamasaka•Mike Hansel•Bob Haozous•Jacob J. Harmeling•Susan & Doug Peterson•Dirk Peterson•Daniel Postellon•Bev Precious•Jonathan
Joseph Benevenia•Patricia Bengtson Jones•Constance Bergfors•Roger Harrison•Barbara Hashimoto•Sally Hepler•Kenneth Herlihy•David B. Quick•Semion Rabinkov•Morton Rachofsky•Kimberly Radochia•Marcia
Berry•Henri Bertrand•Cindy Billingsley•Rita Blitt•Christian Bolt•Marina Hickman•Joyce Hilliou•Bernard Hosey•Jack Howard-Potter•Brad Howe• Raff•Vicky Randall•Jeannette Rein•Chase Revel•Anthony Ricci•Ellie Riley•
Bonomi•Gilbert V. Boro•Louise Bourgeois•Judith Britain•Gil Bruvel•Hal Paul Hubbard•Robert Huff•Yoshitada Ihara•Eve Ingalls•James Madison Kevin Robb•Salvatore Romano•Carol Ross•James B. Sagui•Olou Komlan
Buckner•Ruth M. Burink•H. Edward Burke•Maureen Burns-Bowie•Keith University•Julia Jitkoff•Johanna Jordan•Yvette Kaiser Smith•Wolfram Samuel•Nathan Sawaya•Tom Scarff•Mark Schlachter•Andy Scott•John
Bush•Mary Pat Byrne•Pattie Byron•Imel Sierra Cabrera•Kati Casida•David Kalt•Kent Karlsson•Ray Katz•Cornelia Kavanagh•Jan Keating•Robert E. Searles•Joseph H. Seipel•Carlos Setien•Mary Shaffer•Kambiz Sharif•Jerry
Caudill•Won Jung Choi•Asherah Cinnamon•Jonathan Clowes•Marco Kelly•Lita Kelmenson•Hitoshi Kimura•Stephen Kishel•Jacqueline Kohos• Shore•Debra Silver•Daniel Sinclair•Vanessa L. Smith•Susan Smith-Trees•
Cochrane•Lynda Cole•Austin Collins•J. Laurence Costin•Fuller Cowles & Jon Krawczyk•KUBO•Lynn E. La Count•Dale Lamphere•Henry Lautz•Won Stan Smokler•Frances Sniffen•Sam Spiczka•John Stallings•Eric Stein•
Constance Mayeron•Sukhdev Dail•Arianne Dar•Erich Davis•Martin Dawe• Lee•Michael Le Grand•Evan Lewis•John R. Light•Ken Light•Robert Linda Stein•Eric Stephenson•Michael Sterns•Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas•
Arabella Decker•G.S. Demirok•Bruce Dempsey•Albert Dicruttalo•Anthony Lindsay•Marvin Lipofsky•Robert Longhurst•Sharon Loper•Charles Loving• Jozef Sumichrast•Tash Taskale•Cordell Taylor•Timothy Taylor•Peter Terry•
DiFrancesco•Karen Dimit•Marylyn Dintenfass•Deborah Adams Doering• Helen Lykes•Noriaki Maeda•Mike Major•Andrea Malaer•Lenville Maxwell• Ana Thiel•Stephen Tirone•Cliff Tisdell•Rein Triefeldt•Edward Uhlir•John
Yvonne Ga Domenge•Dorit Dornier•Jim Doubleday•Philip S. Drill•Laura Edward Mayer•Jeniffer McCandless•Joseph McDonnell•Ceci Cole McInturff• Valpocelli•Vasko Vassilev•Martine Vaugel•Philip Vaughan•Ales Vesely•
Evans Durant•Ward Elicker•Robert Erskine•Helen Escobedo•Philip John Darcy Meeker•Ron Mehlman•Gina Michaels•Ruth Aizuss Migdal-Brown• Jill Viney•Ed Walker•Martha Walker•Blake Ward•Mark Warwick•
Evett•Isabelle Faucher•Johann Feilacher•Zhang Feng•Helaman Ferguson• Lowell Miller•Brian Monaghan•Norman Mooney•Richard Moore, III• Georgia Welles•Andrew White•Michael Whiting•Philip Wicklander•
Talley Fisher•True Fisher•Dustine Folwarczny•Basil C. Frank•Mary Annella Aiko Morioka•Polly Morris•DeeDee Morrison•Keld Moseholm•Serge John Wiederspan•Madeline Wiener•W.K. Kellogg Foundation•Wesley
Frank•Gayle & Margaret Franzen•James Gallucci•Eliseo Garcia•Ron Mozhnevsky•W.W. Mueller•Anna Murch•Robert Murphy•Morley Myers• Wofford•Jean Wolff•Dr. Barnaby Wright•Joan Wynn•Cigdem Yapanar•
Gard•Ronald Garrigues•Beatriz Gerenstein•hohini Ghosh•James S. Arnold Nadler•Marina Nash•Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park•George Riva Yares•Larry Young•Steve Zaluski•Gavin Zeigler
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
____________________________ ___________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
_____________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
___________________________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
____________________
______________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
_______________________ ________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
__________________________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
forum
So You Want To Go To Art School
by Daniel Grant
Deciding to go to art school department. However, 25 per- Hauft and others note, how- clay…[I]t was clear at the time
seems like an answer, but it cent, or 15 seniors, in the ever, that the declining num- that the craft practices of a par-
is only the start of a series of typical graduating class of 60 ber of fully equipped sculpture ticular métier were no longer
questions. Do art schools care students, leave as sculptors: studios reflects more than just central to my training; we
(and, if so, how much) about “Maybe two or three are figure the cost of operating the facili- learned to think, not inside a
my grade point average? sculptors, another two or ties. A growing number of stu- material tradition, but rather
Should I go to an independent three work in video or perfor- dio art degree programs have about it.”
art school or to a liberal mance.” Students may enter moved away from a focus Not every art program fol-
arts college or university that school with similar experi- on instructing students in the lows the idea-based approach,
offers a studio arts degree pro- ences, but they leave with technical processes of artmak- but more and more of them do,
gram? What does the admis- quite different ideas and expec- ing and turned toward the though there is still a place for
sions department look for in tations. conceptual and theoretical. students who like to make
a portfolio? Are there scholar- Choosing to focus on sculp- Increasingly, students are things with their hands, where
ships available for art stu- ture, of course, requires a encouraged to develop their they can learn more about
dents? Is there an office of school to have the facilities artistic ideas, which may be the technical aspects of produc-
career counseling? Are there and trained instructors and realized in two, three, or four tion than just the available
campus activities? What do technicians to help students dimensions, and instructors computer software. According
they actually teach? For learn the needed technical will assist with the execution: to Bonnie Biggs, head of the
prospective sculpture students, skills, such as carving, mold- how-to follows concept. “We sculpture department at
the questions only increase. making, welding, and model- try to be idea-based and obtain the Cornish College of Art in
Does an admissions portfolio ing. A shrinking number of the materials that students Seattle, “The hot topic in the
for a sculpture student differ art schools and university art need to fulfill an idea,” says art world, particularly with
from one for a painter? How departments now maintain Gilles Giuntini, who heads the sculpture, is, ‘Are you a maker
broadly or narrowly is sculp- these staff and facilities, for a sculpture department at the or a thinker? And do the two
ture defined? Are there dedi- number of reasons, principally Hartford Art School of the worlds come together?’”
cated facilities for all the vari- the cost. For instance, as University of Hartford in Prospective art students and
ous media that I might want Parker notes, “Many schools Connecticut. The more tradi- their parents will want
to pursue and experienced fac- have closed down their tional approach is for students to know where a particular
ulty to go with them? foundries. They are expensive to learn a specific medium school falls within the think-
Most of the people who to run, and they are an insur- in depth; their ideas develop ing/making continuum and
major or concentrate in sculp- ance liability.” Foundries run together with a growing sense how well—or if—the two
ture didn’t plan to do so—few on gas that needs to be turned of what they can and like approaches are balanced. “We
high school art classes offer on all day and require a cer- to do. The trend toward idea- are trending more to the con-
anything more than drawing tain number of daily pours to focused learning is perhaps ceptual, but we still have our
and painting, and so most fine make the operation cost-effec- best demonstrated by feet firmly planted in the mak-
art applicants assume that tive; they also require expen- University of Virginia profes- ing,” says Bob Smith, head of
they will be painters. It is sive ventilation and waste- sor Howard Singerman in his the fine art department at the
through first-year foundation disposal systems. “For schools 1999 book Art Subjects: Milwaukee Institute of Art &
courses that students gain the that want to save money, Making Artists in the Amer- Design. The school has devel-
opportunity to try different a foundry is an easy thing to ican University: “Although I oped a two-track system
media. At the University of the cut,” says Amy Hauft, chair hold a Master of Fine Arts for sculpture students, with the
Arts in Philadelphia, for of the sculpture department degree in sculpture, I do not conceptually oriented steered
instance, perhaps two or three at Virginia Commonwealth have the traditional skills of toward installation and public
students entering the fine arts University (VCU), whose stu- the sculptor; I cannot carve or art, while those most interested
program see themselves as dio art program includes com- cast or weld or model in in making objects are directed
sculptors, according to Barry plete facilities in a variety of toward a program that teaches
Parker, head of the sculpture three-dimensional media. “It’s carving and casting. Students
an expensive skill set to may also cross back and forth
teach.” between the two.
14 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
There are various ways of in the area where students may which by inclination leans particularly those who majored
obtaining information about learn processes and techniques, toward the conceptual—“We in sculpture. They leave behind
schools and their methodolo- as well as produce their own look to harness ideas that studios, instructors, mentors,
gies. Visiting an independent work. “There are quite a few of aren’t constrained by the phys- discounted supplies, tools, and
art school or university art these foundries around town,” ical limitations of an actual equipment to enter a world
department is ideal. While on she said, and students can space,” says sculpture division where large, affordable work
campus, one can examine the learn from full-time artists and head Brett Hunter—accom- spaces are in short supply,
equipment and facilities, sit in technicians. modates both hands-on and materials are expensive, and
on a studio or academic class There are benefits and draw- theoretically minded students. foundries are distant (and they
to assess the level of instruc- backs to this type of system. “I don’t see any animosity charge by the hour). Perhaps
tion and class size, look at fac- On the plus side, a professional between the two types,” the art of our time will be
ulty, alumni, and student art- foundry may already have Hunter says. “The studios are defined as much by the cost of
work, mix with the student an apprentice system in which next to one another, and we its production as by its social,
body to determine whether or people learn technical skills, have a conversation about both cultural, and political milieu.
not one will fit in (or want to), and they can have more people these areas.” Alfred’s isolation, “You see more digital work in
identify what percentage of on hand to teach than might he adds, contributes to the New York art galleries these
the student body is majoring in be found at a school. The cohesion of the community days,” Hauft notes. “New York
fine or applied arts, and evalu- Hartford Art School’s Giuntini and the intensity of the stu- artists have a harder time find-
ate student services (academic says that “some professional dent experience: “There’s no ing tools, equipment, and
assistance, psychological and foundries and glass factories gallery opening to go to on space to create sculpture, but
career counseling, planned are better than a college Friday night, so you’re more you don’t need much space to
activities) and the library. Much foundry. Ours gets by, but likely to be working in your set up a computer.”
of this information, along money is always an issue.” Of studio.” Art school graduates need
with the specific curriculum— course, the school would need Alfred has an MFA program contact with other artists to
courses for first-, second-, to make legal arrangements in addition to its BFA, but not exchange ideas and informa-
third-, and fourth-year stu- with the outside foundry con- all schools do. Of the 40 mem- tion, and a good place to start
dents—is also available on- cerning the health and safety bers of the Association of is with local and national asso-
line. Many schools post quite of its students, and it is not as Independent Colleges of Art ciations and societies. From
detailed information. For easy to police the enforce- and Design, only 29 offer these networks and connec-
instance, VCU’s art department ment of those guidelines as at MFAs. Based on a 2009–10 tions, graduates will gain a lot
proudly offers a laundry list of a foundry right on campus. survey by the National of important information—
its tools and machinery, much Art can be expensive to make: Association of Schools of Art where exhibition opportunities
of which would be unknown art students have to purchase and Design, which includes exist, which agencies are seek-
to all but professionals in the their own materials, and liberal arts colleges and uni- ing public art proposals, where
field. “The point,” Hauft says, sculpture perhaps requires the versities, 83 institutions offer an inexpensive studio or apart-
“is to show that we are well largest outlay of cash. “Lab the BFA as the highest degree ment may be rented, where to
equipped, even if most fees,” as they are called, may in art and design and 115 offer get a good deal on art supplies,
prospective students and their range from $100 to $1,000 per the MFA. “It’s not shortchang- or who is hiring. Another
parents don’t know what this semester. In the sculpture pro- ing the student’s experience option is to work as a studio
stuff is.” gram at Alfred University, for not to have an MFA,” says assistant for a professional
When one does not see a par- instance, the fees are between Smith, but Hauft argues that artist (those jobs can be found
ticular facility on campus $30 and $100 per credit hour; “it’s a great asset for under- through the Jobs in the Arts
or cannot find it mentioned on most courses are three credit graduates to be around MFA page of the New York Foun-
the school’s Web site, it makes hours, multiplied by the num- students,” because the gradu- dation for the Arts’ Web site
sense to inquire if such a facil- ber of studio art courses a stu- ate students reveal the “next <www.nyfa.org> or by asking
ity is available. The Cornish dent takes during a semester. stage” for those in the BFA gallery owners). Studio assis-
College of Art does not have Alfred University is located program. tants may have a range of pro-
its own metal or glass foundry, in western New York State, The next stage is difficult to fessional and menial jobs to
according to Biggs, but it quite removed from urban art contemplate. Graduating from do, but their perks frequently
has arrangements with pro- museums and galleries, and art school comes as a slap include free use of tools and
fessional, artist-run foundries there are no privately operated in the face for many students, materials, as well as the oppor-
foundries in the area, either. tunity to meet critics, curators,
As a result, the art department, dealers, collectors, and other
artists.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
itinerary
by 80 artists born in the second half giant curved surfaces conjuring illu-
of the last century, dividing them sory distortions and fleeting
into four generational groups. The perceptions. In spite of, or perhaps
Top: Ryan Gander, The Happy Prince. the parable. Installed at the south- now historical generation of Nunzio because of, their monumental scale,
Above: Bertozzi & Casoni, Riflessioni east entrance to Central Park, this and Gianni Dessì leads to mid-career Sky Mirror (in two versions), C-
al bar, from “Italian Sculpture.” tableau of generosity, waste, and sculptors like Maurizio Cattelan, Curve, and Non Object (Spire) appear
Top, right: Anish Kapoor, Sky Mirror. greed uses Wilde’s subtle condem- Massimo Bartolini, Stefano Arienti, as pure manifestations of their
Above, right: Teresa Margolles, nation of inequality to make a timely Liliana Moro, and Vanessa Beecroft, changing surroundings—sky, trees,
Caída libre. point about contemporary attitudes who are succeeded by a younger water, wildlife, and atmosphere.
toward poverty and wealth redistri- generation represented by Loris Gazing into these mirrors calls into
Doris C. Freedman Plaza bution. Cecchini, Sissi, and Patrick Tutto- question our relationship to what
New York Tel: 212.980.4575 fuoco and a new group of emerging we see, altering our approach to
GANDER: JASON WYCHE, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND PUBLIC ART FUND / KAPOOR: © 2010 DAVE MORGAN
Ryan Gander Web site artists, which includes Arcangelo both the work itself and its environ-
Through February 13, 2011 <www.publicartfund.org> Sassolino, Francesco Simeti, Riccardo ment.
Ryan Gander’s The Happy Prince Previdi, and Francesco Gennari. While Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7402 6075
transforms the climactic final Fondazione Pomodoro mapping this lineage, the show also Web site
scenes of Oscar Wilde’s beloved chil- Milan explores the problem of how to <www.serpentinegallery.org>
dren’s story into a lyrical sculpture Italian Sculpture of the 21st Century define (or not) the hybrid nature of
that explores the idea of ruin. Through February 20, 2011 sculpture today. Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Reduced to useless shabbiness and Five years after tackling Italian sculp- Tel: +39 (0)2 89075394 Kassel, Germany
no longer an ornament to the city ture of the 20th century, the Fon- Web site <www.
____ Teresa Margolles
(his gold plate and jewels given to dazione Pomodoro has mounted fondazionearnaldopomodoro.it>
_________________ Through February 20, 2011
the poor), the statue of the prince is another ambitious survey. Teleo- Margolles, who took a degree in
melted down, except for his broken logical in intent, “Italian Sculpture of Kensington Gardens forensics after studying art, found
lead heart, which the town elders the 21st Century” picks up where its London her artistic voice while working in
throw on a garbage pile along with predecessor left off, demonstrating Anish Kapoor a Mexico City morgue in the 1990s.
the body of the faithful swallow. continuity while tracing the newest Through March 13, 2011 Employing a radical and uncompro-
Gander’s interpretation places heart, tendencies and directions. This ambi- Placed in a living outdoor setting, mising realism to instill deep emo-
sword, helmet, pedestal, and swal- tious undertaking, curated by Marco Kapoor’s reflective stainless steel tional drama into minimal forms,
low in a pile of debris, where they Meneguzzo, brings together works sculptures truly succeed in “Turning she investigates taboo areas of life
await the redemption promised by the World Upside Down,” their
16 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Left: Alberto Giacometti, La Cage,

Above: Giuseppe Penone, Respirare
l’ombra (detail). Top right: Petah
Coyne, installation view of “Every-
thing that Rises Must Converge.”
Right: Wade Kavanaugh and
Stephen B. Nguyen, White Stag,
from “Material World.”
becomes united with the power of

the void. As small as they are, these
miniatures assert a monumental
and death—what happens when corporeal presence while projecting
we die, and what is left behind after an immeasurable distance between
death. “Frontera,” which features themselves and the viewer. Moving
new and recent works devoted in an intermediate zone between such as leaves, roots, trees, and Michael Beutler, Orly Genger, Tobias
to Mexico’s drug war, is not for the the tangible and the virtual, they earth, express an animistic symbol- Putrih, Alyson Shotz, Dan Stein-
faint-hearted. Water once used to pave the way for the late, large- ism of correspondences, as trunks hilber, and the collaborative team
wash autopsied corpses drips onto a scale works—figures inscribed with transform into bodies, leaves into of Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen B.
hot steel plate and assails the sens- an inherent sense of space, tempo- skin, skin into maps, and eyes into Nguyen, ordinary things produce
es. Bullet-ridden walls taken from rality, and motion. More than water and air. “Veins Opened to the extraordinary environments. Plastic
GIACOMETTI: JEAN-PIERRE LAGIEWSKI, © VG BILD-KUNST, BONN 2010 / KAVANAUGH & NGUYEN: COURTESY THE ARTISTS
Mexican cities attest to the limits of 60 sculptures—each installed with Air,” which expresses Penone’s sensu- sheeting, foil-covered timber, lob-
endurance, while gold watches, ear- room to breathe—step beyond sta- ous, phenomenological approach ster rope, rolls of paper, and fishing
rings, chains, and other relics sis, infusing their surroundings with to the world and also refers to the line shed their utilitarian functions
memorialize those who met violent a palpable electric charge. former coal mines at Grand-Hornu, and become free-wheeling conduc-
ends. Forcing us to face the physical Tel: + 49 (0) 5361 2669 0 features historical works as well as tors of color, line, texture, form, psy-
dimensions of death head-on, these Web site <www.kunstmuseum-
___________ recent bronze sculptures, including chology, and atmosphere, construct-
works assess the state of a society wolfsburg.de>
________ the surprising “Geometry in the ing wildly inventive spaces that
by the state of its dead. Hands” series. bridge the gap between imagination
Tel: + 49 561 707 27 20 MAC’s Musée des Arts Tel: +32 (0) 65 65 21 21 and physical reality.
Web site <www.fridericianum-
___________ Contemporains Web site <www.mac-s.be> Tel: 413.662.2111
kassel.de>
_____ Hornu, Belgium Web site <www.massmoca.org>
Giuseppe Penone Mass MoCA
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg Through February 13, 2011 North Adams, Massachusetts Mass MoCA
Wolfsburg, Germany Penone’s work blurs the boundaries Material World North Adams, Massachusetts
Alberto Giacometti between nature and culture in poetic Through February 27, 2011 Petah Coyne
Through March 6, 2011 and unexpected ways. His insights “Material World” celebrates several Through February 27, 2011
This retrospective of Giacometti’s evolve from close observation of the important trends in contemporary Coyne has a unique ability to trans-
mature work posits him as the rules governing growth and form but art: transformative manipulation of form ordinary matter into incandes-
inventor of virtual space. Beginning take unexpected twists as he humble materials, obsessive accu- cent, if troubling, visual poetry.
with tiny figures made in the after- explores “vegetal man and anthropo- mulation, and the engagement Combining figurative and abstract
math of World War II, his sculpture morphized nature.” Natural materials, of time and space. In the hands of traditions and employing an extrav-
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
itinerary
Left: Thomas Houseago, Cyclops No.

1. Bottom left: Odani Motohiko, SP2
HOUSEAGO: © THOMAS HOUSEAGO, COURTESY MICHAEL WERNER GALLERY / ODANI: KIOKU KEIZO, COURTESY YAMAMOTO GENDAI, TOKYO / SIGURDARDÓTTIR: BRUCE SCHWARZ, THE PHOTOGRAPH ROOM, © THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, COURTESY THE ARTIST / FELDMANN: JOAQUÍN
‘New Born’ (Viper A). Right: Katrin
Sigurdardóttir, Boiserie. Bottom
right: Hans Peter Feldmann, instal-
lation view of “An Exhibition of Art.”
dity and death. This retrospective,

which borrows its title from
Flannery O’Connor (another master
of deliciously brooding gloom),
focuses on work from the last 10
years, including selections from a
series based on Dante’s Inferno and
two new works that extend the
technical experimentation and per-
sonal expression driving Coyne’s
sculptural ethos.
Tel: 413.662.2111
Web site <www.massmoca.org>
Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York
Katrin Sigurdardóttir Modern Art Oxford/Ashmolean descendents confront their fore-
Through March 6, 2011 Museum of Art and Archaeology bears in the renovated Cast Gallery
Sigurdardóttir’s work blends nature, Oxford, U.K. and throughout the permanent
architecture, and design. From basic Thomas Houseago collection.
construction materials—plywood, Through February 20, 2011 Tel: + 44 (0) 1865 813830
polystyrene, insulation, and foam Houseago takes a Janus-like approach Web site
core—she creates miniature ver- to sculpture, looking simultaneously <www.modernartoxford.org.uk>
sions of imaginary and real environ- to the past and the future. His
ments, framing them in crates, suit- deconstructed figures strike classi- Mori Art Museum
cases, and room-sized installations. cal poses, but their shifts between Tokyo
Boiseries, her new site-specific solid mass and hollow planarity Odani Motohiko
installations at the Met, offer full- betray a steady interchange between Through February 27, 2011
scale interpretations of two popular the traditional and the postmodern. Abstract sensations and uncomfort-
French period rooms in the collec- All about process, these primitive, able psychologies masquerade
tion, one from the Hôtel de Crillon totemic beings exude daring behind monstrously beautiful forms
(Paris, 1777–80) and the other urgency, tactility, and brute physi- in Odani’s work. His visualized
from the Hôtel de Cabris (Grasse in cality, every crude gesture countered “phantoms” rekindle the forgotten,
Provence, c. 1775). Toying with by an equally sophisticated refer- unearth the long-buried, and pro-
scale, perception, construction, and ence. At the same time, they recall ject unimagined futures, attempting
deconstruction, these contemporary Boccioni’s challenge to show space to capture existence from every per-
agant range of materials, her sculp- suites celebrate the wonder as both molding device and some- spective. A dress made of hair,
tures strike an almost Victorian bal- and artifice of habitation as object, thing to be molded. Unapologetic a fawn with legs encased in metal
ance between overloaded refine- while examining the history of taste and relentless in their art historical constraints, and a samurai’s wraith-
ment and decadent morbidity. Dead and reflecting on what it means to evocations, these statues for con- like horse exude an ominous attrac-
fish, mud, sticks, sand, old car experience a disembodied room in temporary times shoulder a difficult tion that appeals directly to the
parts, dripping wax, satin ribbons, a museum. psychological burden, serving as unconscious and its love of pleasur-
artificial flowers, taxidermy animals, Tel: 212.535.7710 awkward, unresolved reminders of able torments. This exhibition of
CORTÉS/ROMÁN LORES
and horsehair conjure a through- Web site <www.metmuseum.org> the past. The Ashmolean installa- sculptures from the last 10 years also
the-looking-glass, gothicized fantasy tion heightens the emotional reso- includes Odani’s video works—
of innocence and seduction, fecun- nance, as these cumbersome another device to grasp the unknown
18 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
and unseen—as well as a new Top left: Frances Whitehead, SLOW own limits.” Her first solo museum
sculptural series of uncanny “fossil” Cleanup (detail). Left: Jonathan show in New York features the
specimens whose prodigious skele- Meese, Suzy Wong. Above: Haegue labyrinthine Voice and Wind (2009),
tal precision activates a disquieting, Yang, Series of Vulnerable Arrange- a semi-transparent installation that
Boccioni-inspired dynamism of spi- ments—Voice and Wind. draws multi-sensory connections to
raling growth. other people, places, and times.
Tel: + 81 3 5777 8600 a figurative form, the characters Tel: 212.219.1222
Web site derived from a personal mythology Web site <www.newmuseum.org>
WHITEHEAD: COURTESY THE ARTIST AND NIU ART MUSEUM / MEESE: JOCHEN LITTKEMANN / YANG: PATTARA CHANRUECHACHAI, COURTESY GALERIE BARBARA WIEN, BERLIN, AND KUKJE GALLERY, SEOUL
<www.mori.art.museum> that combines ancient history and

contemporary pop culture. Within NIU Art Museum
Museo National Centro de Arte this world of “permanent child’s DeKalb, Illinois
Reina Sofia play,” populated by a pantheon of Frances Whitehead
Madrid rock stars, family members, Bond vil- January 25–March 11, 2011
Hans Peter Feldmann lains, Greek gods, sexual avatars, and Sculptor, gardener, professor, cre-
Through February 28, 2011 warriors, statues and amulets tran- ator/owner of the greenest house in
Feldmann, whose casual inventories scend representation to rediscover Chicago, and self-described “design-
of ordinary things were recently rec- magical embodiment. ist,” Whitehead continually asks,
ognized with the 2010 Hugo Boss Tel: 305.893.6211 and answers, the question of what
Prize, creates elegantly spare instal- Web site <www.mocanomi.org> artists might know that others
lations, sculptures, books, pho- might not. The notion that artists
tographs, and paintings that illumi- New Museum have a specialized knowledge—“a
nate the mysteries of daily life. New York quantifiable skill set of processes,
Sifted through a conceptual sieve, Haegue Yang methodologies, and approaches
his collected images and objects— Through January 23, 2011 that they carry with them into the
whether mass-produced or artist- Working with non-traditional mate- world”—may make some people,
generated—re-present the vernacu- rials such as customized Venetian even artists themselves, a little
lar, the amateur, the ephemeral, Museum of Contemporary Art blinds, lights, infrared heaters, uncomfortable, but it’s a liberating
and the unattended, bringing order North Miami scent emitters, and fans, Yang (who idea for Whitehead. She has situated
and understanding to bear on a Jonathan Meese represented the Republic of Korea her work within an expanded field of
cacophony of visual trivia. This lat- Through February 13, 2011 in the 2009 Venice Biennale) con- inquiry that engages the increasingly
est “Exhibition of Art,” as Feldmann Meese’s sculptures serve as frozen structs nuanced installations that vital fields of sustainability, public
titles all of his shows, includes a surrogates for the various forces collapse the space between the works, social engagement, and
wide range of works that uncover of good and evil that appear in his concrete and the ephemeral. Her the future of design. This exhibition
the unexpected life hidden behind performances. Though he is better recent work explores real and explores what it means to be
the mundane, taking us back to a known for his exuberant paintings metaphorical relationships between an “embedded artist,” surveying a
time of innocence, when any image and complex installations, he material surroundings and emotional range of projects and proposals that
or piece of junk could become a has always made three-dimensional responses, attempting to give form trace new intersections of public
window into another world. objects, from clay talismans to witty and meaning to experiences beyond policy, environmental reclamation,
Tel: + 34 91 774 10 00 assemblages and dioramas (one fairy- conventional order. Despite their and aesthetic experience.
Web site tale confection transforms a white rigorous and minimal abstraction, Tel: 815.753.1936
<www.museoreinasofia.es> bird into a snowcapped mountain these micro-environments do not Web site
scaled by Lilliputian climbers), negate narrative; instead, as Yang <www.niu.edu/artmuseum>
to massive bronzes and large-scale says, “they allow a narrative to
ceramics. Many of these works take be achieved without constituting its
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
itinerary
Left: Nam June Paik, Zen for TV.

Above: Lina Puerta, Hill. Right: Scott
Andresen, Fort Defiance North. Both
from EAF 2010. Bottom right: Francis
Alÿs, film still from Sometimes Doing
Something Poetic can become Polit-
ical and Sometimes Doing Something
Political can be Poetic.
Stiller, and Jason Villega are installed

against the park’s spectacular
waterfront view of the Manhattan
skyline.
Tel: 718.956.1819
Web site
<www.socratessculpturepark.org>
Tate Liverpool
PAIK: © MUMOK MUSEUM MODERNER KUNST STIFTUNG LUDWIG, WIEN / PUERTA AND ANDRESEN: BILYANA DIMITROVA / ALŸS: COURTESY DAVID ZWIRNER, NY
Liverpool
Nam June Paik
Socrates Sculpture Park Through March 13, 2011
Long Island City, New York Video artist, performer, composer,
Emerging Artist Fellowship and new media sculpture visionary,
Exhibition 2010 Paik was one of the most innovative
Through March 6, 2011 artists of the 20th century, counter-
EAF artists are selected through an ing doomsday “Future Shock” pre-
open call for proposals and awarded monitions with witty and humanized laborations with Charlotte Moor- with spades and shifting the mound
a grant and residency at Socrates’ renderings of technology. More man in the 1960s) to such icons a few centimeters as they go. Such
outdoor studio; for many, this is than 40 years ago, he saw the sig- of media art as TV Buddha from allegorical strategies define Alÿs’s
their first opportunity to work out- nificance (and dangers) of TV, satel- the 1970s, manipulated videotapes, experimental approach to art.
side on a large scale. This year’s lites, and rapid communication robots, and TV sculptures from Starting with a simple action, per-
works represent a broad range and devoted the rest of his career to the 1980s, and the late installations. formed by himself or others and
of materials, methods, and subject proving that technology can do Tel: + 44 (0) 151 702 7400 subsequently documented in a range
matter—from a satirical take on more than lull and enslave. A stu- Web site of media, he explores contentious
scenic pull-offs and look-outs to DIY dent of commercial and ideological <www.tate.org.uk/liverpool> political issues such as border con-
rusticity, bucolic faux landscapes, forces, he upended appropriated flicts, economic crises, and enforced
and upended geometries. Works by imagery (and its delivery devices), Wiels modernization schemes while
Gavin Anderson, Scott Andresen, turning propagandistic pablum into Brussels demonstrating the resonance of
Rachel Beach, Trenton Duerksen, a call for thinking resistance. In the Francis Alÿs poetic acts in controversial situa-
Jonathan Durham, Daniele Frazier, process, he transformed the video Through January 30, 2011 tions. This retrospective features
Frank Haines, Jonggeon Lee, Mary- image into a tool capable of redefin- A man pushes a massive block of ice videos, sculptures, installations,
Kate Maher, Christopher Manzione, ing the parameters of sculpture and through the streets of Mexico City paintings, and animations, including
Clive Murphy, Jess Perlitz, Lina installation. This first major U.K. until it melts to nothing. Five hun- Tornado, a new work made in the
Puerta, Jory Rabinovitz, David M. retrospective follows Paik’s experi- dred volunteers walk over a huge Strait of Gibraltar.
Scanavino, Lior Shvil, Ruby Sky mental spirit from his early Fluxus sand dune in Lima, Peru, digging Tel: + 32 (0)2 347 30 33
performances (particularly the col- Web site <www.wiels.org>
20 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
_________
________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
commissions
Andrea Zittel
Indianapolis Island
Indianapolis
Andrea Zittel’s Indianapolis Island, an igloo-shaped
pod floating incongruously in the middle of a lake at
the Indianapolis Museum of Art, combines sculpture,
interactive installation, and living space. One of eight
site-specific works commissioned for IMA’s new
sculpture garden, 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks
Art & Nature Park (Kendall Buster, Los Carpinteros,
Jeppe Hein, Alfredo Jaar, Tea Mäkipää, Type A, and
Atelier Van Lieshout also received commissions),
Indianapolis Island provides about 150 square feet of
housing and art space for student residents.
Like many of Zittel’s projects, her new pod explores
modes of living and social behavior. As she writes Above: Do Ho Suh, Bridging Home, 2010. Steel frame with timber sub-frame, Filcor 45 FRA EPS
in a blog post, “Each year, IMA will invite one or two bonded to 19mm marine plywood, and painted finish, installation view. Below: Andrea Zittel,
residents to live on the island and to interface with Indianapolis Island, 2010. Fiberglass and foam, approximately 10 x 20 x 20 ft.
the public, sort of like park rangers. Or maybe
docents.” For the initial residency, in summer 2010, or of the island was a constantly changing space,” York says. “Visitors loved
students from the nearby Herron School of Art and the opportunity to be rowed from the shore…and to be welcomed into the
Design were invited to apply. Amanda York, an IMA island. It gave people individual experiences within the project.” Dunn and
curatorial assistant for contemporary art, says that Runge designed multi-purpose furniture for the interior as well as floating
Zittel “was enthusiastic about being involved in the message receptacles that echoed the globular shape of the island. They kept
student competition and helped select the winning a detailed blog with images of their visitors, messages, and events of the
proposals.” summer. York says that the interactive residency was “a huge success” and
The winners, Jessica Dunn and Michael Runge, spent that the students became “ambassadors to the island and the park itself.”
the summer working on Give and Take, a project that Residencies for Zittel’s Indianapolis Island are planned for the next three
allowed park visitors to leave messages and visit the summers, so new occupants will have an opportunity to customize the space
island to swap things. “The result was that the interi- and provide new experiences for IMA visitors.
Do Ho Suh
Bridging Home
Liverpool, U.K.
SUH: ALEX WOLKOWICZ / ZITTEL: © ANDREA ZITTEL, COURTESY INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART
For the Liverpool Biennial, Do Ho Suh wedged a
scale model of a Korean house into a narrow gap in
the urban fabric. Supported by two indigenous
Liverpool buildings, the interloper hovers at a disori-
enting height and angle. Suh first conceived Bridging
Home, which was modeled on his childhood house,
for a site below street level, thinking that people
could look at it from above. When that location
became unavailable, he “asked Rajwant Sandhu, a
curator at the biennial, to find a site between two
three- to four-story buildings where I could suspend
my piece above eye level…Rajwant did a great job.”
The house, whose materials seemed to be traditional
brick, wood, and slate, with accent plaques bearing
Asian characters, appeared as untouched by its dislo-
cation as Dorothy’s farmhouse when it landed in Oz.
At its lowest point, it rose 3.5 meters above ground.
22 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Suh calls the project “a continuation of my

quest to define and re-define the notion of
home and personal space. Every architec-
tural piece I have made has somehow
reflected my life and personal history at
that particular moment.”
Since the 2010 biennial addressed the
theme of “Touched,” organizers wanted to
showcase works with strong emotional
resonance. Suh developed the concept for
Bridging Home after a conversation with
curator Lorenzo Fusi: “He asked me to
come up with a piece to interact with Liver-
pool and the neighborhood. Given [my]
unfamiliarity with Liverpool…I thought
about how this was a reflection of my life. I
have been traveling to many different coun-
tries and places over the past 10 years. Just
when I become comfortable in a place, sud-
denly I am off to a new one. Here, I used
the Korean house as a self-portrait. The
house is in a new environment, trying to
negotiate with a new setting…[It] appears
to have dropped down from the sky and
landed in between two buildings. But the
house is intact. I left it up to the viewer to
decide how this could be.”
Ken Lum
from shangri-la to shangri-la Top and detail: Ken Lum, from shangri-la to shangri-la, 2010. Mixed media, dimensions variable.
Vancouver
Ken Lum’s from shangri-la to shangri-la ideal life—one being the off-the-grid rusticity of the squats and the other being the opu-
adorned a reflecting pool in downtown lence of downtown Vancouver and the associated myth of Vancouverism as a kind of
Vancouver with reproductions of squatters’ utopian version of city planning. The use of all lower-case letters in the title of Lum’s work
shacks, emphasizing the city’s history and was [intended] to avoid a specific and limiting association with the Shangri-La tower.”
rapid development. Adjacent to the The work was installed on Georgia Street, the main traffic route through downtown, for
Shangri-La luxury hotel, the site hosts a most of 2010 and was “seen by thousands of commuters who travel[ed] past it everyday.”
rotating array of artworks from the Van- Arnold notes that the “area also has high pedestrian traffic. There was a ‘shore line’ built
couver Art Gallery’s Offsite program. Lum’s in the reflecting pool to mimic…Burrard Inlet.” Lum’s shacks were situated across the pool
TOP: TREVOR MILLS AND RACHEL TOPHAM / BOTTOM: BRIAN HOWELL
cabins replicated the Maplewood Mudflats, from viewers, and it wasn’t possible to enter them. Their size, about one-third that of a real
impromptu homes that occupied the North shack, emphasized their status as artistic re-creations. Arnold says, “They could not
Vancouver beach of Dollarton from the be mistaken for actual dwellings…Squatting communities like the Dollarton mudflats have
early 20th century through 1971. Writer a real resonance for many residents of Vancouver.” The sight of these humble wooden
Malcolm Lowry, artist Tom Burrows, and houses dwarfed by the sleek, glass-and-steel architecture of wealth provoked nostalgia
Greenpeace activist Paul Spong were all while raising questions about the quality of rapid change.
representatives of this independent-minded —Elizabeth Lynch
community, and Lum to chose to re-create
their houses. Juries are convened each month to select works for Commissions. Information on recently
As Grant Arnold, a curator involved with completed commissions, along with quality 35mm slides/transparencies or high-resolution digital
the installation, describes, “The title was images (300 dpi at 4 x 5 in. minimum) and an SASE for return of slides, should be sent to:
intended to identify two conceptions of an Commissions, Sculpture, 1633 Connecticut Avenue NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20009.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Re-Fabricating
Fashion
GUERRA DE LA PAZ
BY REBECCA DIMLING COCHRAN The two artists collectively known as Guerra de la Paz both began
their careers as painters. Known today as sculptors who also cre-
ate installations, they still maintain a connection with their his-
tory. While form and composition are important elements of their
pieces, color takes precedence above all else. Vibrant and pow-
erful, it is the linchpin that inspires and energizes the work. Sur-
prisingly, the robust reds, pulsating yellows, and intense blues do
not come from some kind of pigment but from discarded clothing.
Over the past decade, Guerra de la Paz have developed a unique
practice in which they assemble fabrics of various shades and
textures to produce striking constructions whose conceptual
and formal results are greater than the sum of their parts.
COURTESY GUERRA DE LA PAZ
Many of the sculptures employ an unusual form of optical

Opposite: Nine, 2007. Found garments, mixing that Guerra de la Paz discovered early in their collaborative
shoes, wood, and hardware, 114 x 96 process. Both émigrés from Cuba, Alain Guerra (born in Havana,
x 96 in. Above: Tribute, 2002–ongoing. 1968) and Neraldo de la Paz (born in Matanzas, 1955) began to
Found garments, dimensions variable. share a studio in the Miami neighborhood of Little Haiti in 1996.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Left: Canopy, 2006. Found garments, 16 x 30 x 25 ft. Below left: Oasis, 2006.
Found garments, paint, wire, safety pins, and custom ceiling brackets, 15 x 2
x 35 ft. Above: Male Torso 1, 2009–10. Found shoulder pads, pillows, decon-
structed garments, rope, thread, and steel, 46 x 24 x 24 in.
They developed a close working relationship, often commenting

on and even working on each other’s canvases. Eventually, they
began to collaborate on single pieces under a pseudonym derived
from the combination of their last names. Their earliest works
were paintings, but after a gift of several thousand old maga-
zines, they began to build multi-layered collages with sections
scraped away in a process they call “decollage.” The effect was
not unlike the weathered billboards that they saw throughout
their neighborhood. The first works in the series focused on shared
imagery, but by 1998, the emphasis had shifted to a common
color. These collages, which still hang on the walls of their stu-
dio, emanate a monochromatic presence even though they are
made up of numerous individual swatches.
Little Haiti has long been a headquarters for warehouses gath-
ering and storing pepe, discarded clothing shipped by the bundle
to Haiti (and around the world) and resold in the markets. After
an introduction from a mutual friend, a warehouse owner gave

Guerra de la Paz permission to sift through the piles of clothes
and take the pieces that interested them. Soon the two artists
found themselves shifting their raw material from magazines
to clothing. “Fabric holds color much more strongly than paper,”
26 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above: Drop, 2004–05. Safety pins, fabric, wire, glass, chandelier drops, and
steel cable, 48 x 60 x 86 in. Right and detail: Mort, 2010. Found garments
and shoes, fold-out bed, fabric, and wood, 6 x 5 x 10 ft.
Guerra explains. Texture, pattern, sheen—even how light plays

off the surface of different weaves—drew their attention.
Guerra de la Paz approach clothing in the same way that they
did magazines: they find like-colored garments and use optical
mixing to form three-dimensional objects. Some works, like Tribute
(2002–ongoing), a 12-foot-tall mound of clothing layered along the
color spectrum, are abstract forms whose presence is defined by
color. Others are more figuratively based. For instance, Indradha-
nush (2008) takes the form of a roughly 20-foot-high arching rain-
bow grounded at each end by similarly colored rubber boots, and
Sunt Omnes Unum (2008) consists of eight headless figures, each
elegantly costumed in its own color. They have also created lush
landscape environments like Oasis (2006) in which items of clothing
take on representational force. Shades of brown and tan, wrapped
around a wood and chicken wire armature, become the trunk and
branches of a tree. Green cloth drapes like leaves. Pinks and reds
become flowers, and blues scattered along the floor form a lagoon.
Rich and lush, the sculptures and environments are wonders to

explore. But a much more serious undertone soon becomes appar-
ent. The musty odor that pervades the installations, the label on
a pair of pants, the outline of a sock, and other details recall the
fact that these clothes once belonged to real people. Each garment
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
has a history, not only of the person who once owned and wore it, but also
of the textile worker who made the fabric, the designer who cut the pattern,
the seamstress who put it together, the salesperson who sold it, even the
shop owner who laundered it.
This underlying history takes Guerra de la Paz’s work beyond the merely deco-
rative. In a subtle but poignant way, their use of these found objects poses
questions about the material culture of contemporary society. The discarded
clothes, many of which look familiar on close inspection, are reminders of
how seasonal changes in the length of a hemline or the shape of a shoe often
lead to the disposal of perfectly wearable but outmoded clothes. We have
become a society all too ready to trade up to the next new gadget or the next
fashion trend. The impact of this behavior on our economy and the environ-
ment underlies everything the duo creates.
When Guerra de la Paz make personal responses to current events, their
pieces become even more powerful. In 2005, while working with camouflage
army uniforms intended to represent groundcover in a large installation, they
came across a note in a shirt pocket. This discovery altered their conception of
the discarded clothing that serves as their raw material, transforming it from a
source of pattern and color into something with emotional and political poten-
tial. At the time, Cindy Sheehan, who had lost her son in the Iraq war, was con-
tinually in the news for her extended anti-war protest outside George W. Bush’s
Texas ranch. Soon after finding the note, Guerra de la Paz began a series of
camouflage works in which the discarded uniforms embody politically charged
ideas. In the heart-wrenching PIETA (2005), a mother sits with her dead son
Left: Witchdoctor (detail), 2008. Found costumes, dog sweater, mannequin torso, and steel, 73 x
30 x 26 in. Below: Ring Around the Rosy, 2005. Found garments, footwear, plastic helmets, bowl-
ing ball, rope, hardware, custom dog tags, and mixed media, 50 x 96 in. diameter.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above: Monday–Friday, 2005–09. Cable, neckties, custom aluminum

wall brackets, and hardware, 5 elements, 24 x 9 x 4 in. each. Right:
Sealing the Deal, 2009. Found garments, shoes, gloves, mannequin
torsos, steel, wire, hardware, and concrete, 72 x 50 x 36 in.
draped in her lap, a pose copied from Michelangelo’s

sculpture of the same name. Martyr (2008), which was
part of an installation titled The Green Zone, portrays
the figure of a soldier hanging from the wall like a cru-
cified Christ. And in Ring Around the Rosy (2005), six
children, all wearing army fatigues, dance around a
bomb in the center of their circle—a deft reminder of
the collateral damage inflicted by war. The absence of
faces in these works removes any association of age or
race: to Guerra de la Paz, war is an issue that touches
everyone.
Another series, constructed with a collection of neck-
ties donated by a supporter, responds to the collapse of
the U.S. economy. In the hands of Guerra de la Paz, the
silken strips become symbols of the unbridled greed
behind the financial meltdown. Some of the ties are
woven into nooses, giving form to the feeling of slow
strangulation felt by many people affected by
the downturn. Others are fitted with wires to take on
a serpent-like form and inserted into salvaged suits
to create standing figures who personify the slimy,
dangerous, corporate dealmaker (Sealing the Deal,
2009, and Snake Charmer, 2007).
The play of humor and seriousness in this series
serves as a good example of how Guerra de la Paz
successfully strike a delicate balance between the aes-
thetically pleasing and the conceptually challenging.
Their work is beautiful but emotionally charged, offer-
ing a chilling reminder of the role that we play in

defining our own destiny.
Rebecca Dimling Cochran is a writer and curator living

in Atlanta.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
A Poet and His Muses
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
BY COLLETTE CHATTOPADHYAY
LEFT: ELLEN M. ROSENBERY, © 2008 JIM DINE/ARTIST RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY, AND J. PAUL GETTY TRUST, ART / RIGHT: COURTESY J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, VILLA COLLECTION, MALIBU, CA
When the staff at the J. Paul Getty Museum invited Jim

Dine to visit the Getty Villa and develop a contemporary
work related to the collection, they may have been
expecting a suite of drawings. Although Dine began his
career by creating Happenings in New York City during
the late ’50s, since the ’80s, he has exhibited drawings
of antique sculptures from some of Europe’s most pres-
tigious art institutions. On arriving at the Getty Villa,
which is dedicated to antiquities, Dine had no trouble
finding sculptures to study. He selected three ancient
works, which he inventively combined in the installation
Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets). Given an enclosed
gallery in which to realize his vision, he created five
larger-than-life sculptures inspired by the life-sized Sculp-
tural Group of a Seated Poet and Two Sirens (350–300
BCE) and two small, impromptu clay works, Statuette
of a Dancer (300–200 BCE) and Statuette of a Dancer
Playing the Lyre (200–100 BCE). Poet Singing not only
twines poetic myth and sculpture, past and present, it
also embodies the 72-year-old artist’s private rumina-
tions on the passage of time. Casting Dine’s own likeness
in the guise of the ancient poet Orpheus surrounded by
sirens, Poet Singing resides in an arena-space, listening
to music sung by time’s ancient muses. A broader selec-
tion of Dine’s sculpture is being shown at the Frederik
Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, January 28 through
May 8, 2011.
A Conversation with
JIM DINE
Opposite: Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets), 2008–09. View of installation at
the Getty Villa, Malibu, CA. Above: Sculptural Group of a Seated Poet and Two
Sirens, 350–300 BCE. Polychromed terra cotta, dimensions variable.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Collette Chattopadhyay: You emerged on the New York art scene in the ’50s and ’60s in
the era of Happenings and Pop Art. How did those early years influence what followed?
Jim Dine: Only in that I went to another place. In New York, a group of us met who were
doing performances: Red Grooms, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Whitman, and me. We knew
Allan Kaprow, but didn’t think much of his work. After that, I wanted to paint. I had a
young family and was not feeling particularly sociable. So, I went my own way. By the
’80s, I had retired to Vermont to teach myself to draw. Then, I found the Glyptothek in
Munich and thought that this would be the greatest thing to do—namely, to make a
meditation on ancient work.
CC: What led you to antiquity, and how did you become involved with the Glyptothek?
JD: I went to a Latin high school and was a very poor student. But I left with the romance
of the ancient world. I was continually living in Europe and went to Munich’s Pinakothek
TOP: © JIM DINE/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY, COURTESY PHOTO SERVICE, WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY / BOTTOM: AMAHRA LEAMAN, © JIM DINE/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY, COURTESY WALLA WALLA FOUNDRY, INC
to see paintings. They have beautiful works by Poussin and Claude Lorrain, and there’s a
great Dürer painting of saints. Then, by accident, I came across this museum called the
Glyptothek—the word was invented by Ludwig I of Bavaria to mean “of stone carvings.”
It was built by the architect Leo von Klenze in about 1830 to house Ludwig’s collection
of Greek and Roman things. It was very ornate inside, decorated in a Rococo style with
a lot of gold. The Allied bombers took the building out.
They must have hidden the collection somewhere. The place itself was a shambles, and
it took many years to redo it. They did it in the coolest way, resetting the sculpture the
way it was. Then they whitewashed the walls, and that was that. They didn’t try to retain
the ornate background. It’s a contemplative place now and beautiful. They have little
stools against the wall where archaeologists and art students can sit down and draw. I
couldn’t do it because people were always looking over my shoulder. So, I took a lot of
photographs, bought catalogues and books, and went back to Venice where I was living
that winter. Over two winters, I made my own “Glyptothek.” I made about 40 drawings
Above: The Technicolor Heart (The Big One), 2004. that I eventually showed at the Albertina Museum in Vienna.
Painted bronze, 144 x 144 x 45 in. Below: Large Klaus Vierneisel, who was the director of the Glyptothek, got in touch with me and said,
Parrot Screams Color, 2007. Oil enamel paint and “I saw your drawings. I don’t understand why you haven’t called me. You can come any-
patina on bronze, 144 x 82 x 65 in. time when no one’s here.” The next year, I started to go at night, and I drew there for two
years. There was one guard. I put plastic down on the floor and made big, big drawings
on an easel on a big board. I then took those drawings back to London where I had a
studio and elaborated on them. There’s a Glyptothek catalogue from the Madison Art
Center in Madison, Wisconsin, published by Hudson Hills Press. I’ve shown these big
drawings in various places in America, and they’ve been part of other large shows. The
Getty thought that was what they were going to get—my meditations on their anony-
mous sculptors, like hands across the generations. I thought maybe that was what I was
going to do: use their collection to make drawings and photographs of the work.
CC: I’ve seen some of those drawings, and what astounds me about them is how you
translate stone into flesh. You reveal your sense of being a sculptor when you’re drawing.
I have rarely felt that the stone portraits of Roman senators were real, but in your
drawings, they become like people you might see on the streets in New York or L.A.
JD: Thank you, that was my intention. That’s what I’ve always felt. That’s also why I’ve
been involved with the Pinocchio story for so long, because it’s a metaphor for art. Gep-
petto is given a talking stick. He makes it into a puppet who expends a tremendous
amount of effort to become a human boy. And that’s what artists do—it’s that alchemi-
cal idea.
CC: What led you to create your Venus de Milo sculptures, which were shown in “D’après
l’antique” at the Louvre in 2000?
JD: I showed a single marble sculpture at the Louvre and also some bronzes, maybe a
double bronze and a lot of prints and drawings.
CC: Was this one of your first sculptural ventures into the antique?
JD: I had done an earlier bronze Venus. The marble one is in the collection of the Dresdner
Bank in Berlin; that’s the only stone piece I’ve ever made.
32 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Venus in Five Colors, 2007. Bronze with patina, 5 elements, largest 62.25 x 19 x 19 in.
CC: It seems that your works deal with concepts of dancing sirens. I had very wet logs here in Walla Walla that I had been saving
cultural legacies and replication. What interests you and trying to dry, but I needed them for this. They’re red oak. I carved them
JAY KENNEDY, CATAMOUNT STUDIOS, INC., © JIM DINE/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY, COURTESY RICHARD GRAY GALLERY, CHICAGO
about contemporary works that rephrase antiquity? with the machine, from scans that I made at the Getty of the small veiled
JD: I’m not trying to rephrase antiquity. The Getty piece dancers, each about six inches tall, two clay works that I found in a little
is a good example. They thought that I would be dealing case. They were made very quickly by some great expressive hand. I blew
with their collection by drawing from it and reinter- them up to about nine feet high and cut them in wood. After the machine
preting it. They showed me the room that I could have. roughed them out, my assistants and I used chainsaws and chisels.
I saw their sculpture of the seated poet with two sirens. CC: They’ve split in various places.
Then I came back to Walla Walla, where I live much of JD: Yes, because the wood was wet it hadn’t cured and dried, so it checked
the time, and I built the same room, with the same at random.
proportions. CC: Usually checked wood is discarded by artists, but in this instance, with
CC: A replica of the Getty room? the coloration you’ve added, it lends a sense of time to your sirens.
JD: Yes, out of Sheetrock, though. I got the same pro- JD: Yes, it heightens the sense of the antique. Originally, I started to paint
portions and everything. That’s when I started to cre- them in bright, primary colors as they would have been painted in ancient
ate my Getty work. I scanned my head, and I became times. But I thought it was horrible, so I sand-blasted them and what I got
the Orphic poet because I am a poet. I made the head was a fantastic patina.
about eight feet tall. It was put into the computer and CC: Would you talk about the room and its relation to your sculptures, which
enlarged on a machine that we have here in Walla are all over life-size or bordering on colossal, like the self-portrait head?
Walla. It looks just like Rodin’s pantograph. I modeled JD: The room is about 27 by 21 feet. My first thought was to make the head
over the foam core in plaster. I made it in two parts and two figures. I did that, and it wasn’t enough, so I made two more, and I
because we couldn’t get it through the door otherwise. changed the dancing women. I bent them back and twisted them in various
CC: Is it split down the middle? ways so there are four different figures.
JD: No, the cut is behind the ears. Of course, you can’t CC: The one with a lyre is positioned close to the right ear of your sculpted
see it. That’s one of the reasons why I used plaster. head. It embodies the idea of being seduced by music, while being alert.
Another is that I think plaster’s beautiful. I love the JD: That’s the whole thing. I was very much in touch with my muse. At the
white of it, particularly against the wood of the four same time, I wanted to write a long poem.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
CC: Yes, the poetry is on the walls. Have you done this
before, or is this your biggest installation outside per-
TOP: ELLEN M. ROSENBERY, © 2008 JIM DINE/ARTIST RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY, AND J. PAUL GETTY TRUST, ART / BOTTOM, LEFT AND RIGHT:
haps the Happenings of the ’60s?
JD: It’s as big as anything ever was, except for the most
recent exhibition at Pace of 52 books that I made—
that is really colossal. But, yes, I would say that Poet
Singing (The Flowering Sheets) is my biggest installa-
tion. The poem came because I wanted to write about
this sculpture. I also wanted to cover the walls with
the poem and write about a variety of things. I’ve
been a poet all my life, and I write from time to time.
Recently, I’ve been very prolific. I tried writing on the
walls in Walla Walla, and it seemed like it was going
to work. At the Getty, the four of us—my wife, two
assistants, and I—wrote it on the wall. We toned the
COURTESY J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, VILLA COLLECTION, MALIBU, CA
walls with charcoal using our hands and wrote the

stanzas out. I corrected their writing so it became my
calligraphy, which I consider my drawing. Then they
stood back and read it to me, and we edited it. It was
a great group effort.
CC: There’s a recording of you reading the poem. Can
you speak about how the word-inscribed walls lend the
space a special aura?
JD: They make the space juicier and more claustropho-
Top: Two details of Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets), 2008–09. Above, left: Statuette bic for the figures, which is what I wanted. Ideally, one
of a Dancer, 3rd century BCE. Terra cotta, 23.5 cm. high. Above, right: Statuette of a Dancer or two people should experience the work at a time,
Playing the Lyre, 2nd century BCE. Terra cotta, 20 cm. high. and that’s all.
34 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
The Crying Sand, 2006. Enamel on wood, 82.5 x 26.5 x 22 in.
CC: Who owns the work?

JD: The Getty paid the production costs. I own it, so it’ll be great for me
to have it back. I live on a farm, and I’m going to make a little Orphic
temple with this work inside—no electricity, no lights. It will only be
open when it’s daylight. It will be simple, made out of concrete block,
but that’s all I want.
CC: When did your interest in Pinocchio begin?
JD: I saw the movie when it came out in 1941.
CC: And you’ve been thinking about it over the years?
JD: Yes, I’ve been thinking about it for a long, long time. It stuck with me.
I first showed the work at the Venice Biennale in 1997. I was working on
it since maybe 1994–95.
CC: You mentioned how the Pinocchio story is a metaphor for art. Could
you expand on that idea?
JD: Geppetto, the woodworker, carves a talking stick into the shape of a
boy. The puppet, over many, many tribulations and trials, finally becomes
human. That’s a metaphor for art, the coming to consciousness.
CC: Can you elaborate further on how that alchemical process plays into
your works?
JD: I’ve always given great respect to the found object and the marginal
thought. I use them as my subject matter, and I trust them.
CC: What spiked your interest in Pinocchio in the ’90s?
JD: I had a Pinocchio doll for all those years. It came out with the Holly-
wood film. Finally, I decided that I had to do something with it. It was a
franchised object, sold with the film, I guess. It’s a very troubling story—
not the Disney version, but the real version by Carlo Collodi. It’s a very
difficult story and quite frightening, like a lot of children’s stories. You
identify with this kid’s tribulations of trying to become human. He really
goes through a lot, and it’s quite grim.
CC: And you feel that the artistic process is comparable?
JD: It doesn’t have to be. But I feel that my own personal development as
an adult is comparable.
CC: The Venus pieces represent another alchemical body of work. The
Pinocchio works seem to be coming out of popular culture, but the Venus
ELLEN PAGE WILSON, © JIM DINE/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY, COURTESY PACE GALLERY, NY
works are associated with an über-cultural, high-brow arena.

JD: But when you think about the depiction of the female figure, for
instance, the Venus of Willendorf, or things from middle European prehis-
tory, it’s always been there. I originally used the Venus de Milo because I
was making still-life paintings and looking at memento mori. I thought
that the cast of this classical sculpture would look great in a still-life. I
knocked the head off and eventually started making my own version, because
it was too personal otherwise. But, it’s like the heart, or the Pinocchio, or
the bathrobe. It’s mine. It’s one of my icons.
CC: Do you see these bodies of work, the Pinocchio works and the Venus
works, as complimentary or as polar opposites?
JD: I don’t think of them either way. They were simply done by the same
artist seeking to make art.
Collette Chattopadhyay is a writer who lives in the Los Angeles basin and
a Contributing Editor for Sculpture. “Jim Dine: Sculpture” is on view
at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, January 28 through
May 8, 2011.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Ved
Prakash
Gupta
Telling It
like It Is
BY MINHAZZ MAJUMDAR
This page: Motion in Paralysis (Left—

Right—Center) (detail), 2008. Painted
fiberglass, 32 x 23 x 23 in. Opposite, left:
Arrested Moment I, 2008. Painted fiber-
glass and patina on brass scaffolding, 72
x 27 x 48 in. Opposite, right: The Men…
(Life is a Course of Consideration), 2007.
Painted fiberglass, 47 x 24 x 14 in.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Ved Prakash Gupta is not afraid to speak his mind. This Gupta’s route to art has been unconventional. He confesses, “When I was
young, Baroda-based Indian artist creates blatantly growing up, I had no exposure to art. Perhaps the closest I came to viewing art
satirical works intended to mock, provoke, and parody. was in the store-front signboards.” Born in 1975 in a remote town in Bihar, one
For Gupta, art is a way of commenting on a contempo- of India’s poorest states, this youngest son was the favorite of his father, a suc-
rary India struggling with corruption and greed, caught cessful businessman. Gupta aspired to be an engineer, but violent and bitter
in the whirlpool of rapid globalization. Based on per- student agitation against caste-based reservations in educational institutions
sonal experiences with India’s caste- and class-con- disrupted his plans. Traumatized, he left home in 1994 for Delhi. With barely
scious society, Gupta’s works make no attempt to mask any money, he worked for three months as a daily wage laborer at building
their social commentary and are paradoxically both sites. A newspaper article led him to his first art guru—the sculptor Matu Ram
painful and refreshing to view—painful because they Verma in Pilani, Rajasthan. Gupta worked with him as an apprentice until
bring up truths that we would rather brush aside and 1999, learning to cast sculptures in clay and cement. A chance visit to an art
refreshing because of their innate honesty and often gallery and an encounter with an artist soon saw him applying for a founda-
tongue-in-cheek humor. Yet Gupta wants more from his tion course at one of India’s finest art schools, the Faculty of Fine Arts at
work than just a critique of social mores—it must also Maharaja Sayajrao (MS) University in Baroda.
provoke a desire for change. As he emphatically states, The intellectualism and artistic fervor at the school represented a real
“The aesthetic experience of my art is important, but change for Gupta: “Art school was an eye-opener. It was a total negation of the
the message is more valuable.” work I had done earlier as a commissioned artist.” He found himself having to
The message is loud and clear in Gupta’s most recent justify the kind of art he was doing, and the process, though initially difficult,
body of work. Arrested Moment I (2008), an ambitious was exhilarating. Slowly he moved toward creating issue-based art, influenced
installation, depicts a naked man lying on a blood-red no doubt by his readings in scores of magazines and periodicals dealing with
conference table surrounded by eight imposing red- contemporary Indian life and politics. By the time that Gupta had completed
cushioned chairs. Two well-dressed dwarves sit at his post-graduate degree in sculpture, he had found his artistic voice based on
either end of the table, hungrily eyeing the figure set a minimal but striking visual vocabulary. A recurring cast of characters, includ-
before them, their facial expressions reeking of arro- ing short (dressed) and tall (naked) men, Dalmatians, and frogs, shares the
gance and greed. Construction scaffolding rises from stage with inanimate objects such as chairs, scaffolding, and horns. At this
the bare chest of the emaciated, almost Gandhi-like stage in his career, Gupta mainly works in fiberglass, brass, and bronze.
prone figure. A searing indictment of the rich and their The little men (whom Gupta calls “dwarves”) dominate his sculptures. “Little
insatiable hunger, Arrested Moment comments on the people” typically refers to the poor and the dispossessed, but here the diminu-
state of human society, where a privileged few build tive men call the shots. They could be anyone who is someone—the rich busi-
their fortunes on the backs of the poor and control nessman, the powerful politician, the arrogant bureaucrat, the ruthless corpo-
access to resources for the rest of the world. It also rate honcho—and they make direct reference to India’s status-conscious, hier-
raises the issue of civilized versus uncivilized behavior; archical society. Each is individualized, but they share a few unsavory traits:
the rich and powerful wear a cloak of gentility as they a complacency born of “superior” bourgeois status (represented by fancy
cold-bloodedly profit from the misfortunes of others. In Western attire), a tendency to corpulence, and an ingratiating, unnerving
addition, Gupta alludes to the plight of Indian construc- smile. Gupta uses these characters as a means of humbling exploitative people
tion workers who toil unceasingly to create the high- (including some he has personally encountered), cutting them down to size.
rise apartments and office buildings that define India Many of Gupta’s tableaux insert ordinary sincerity into the midst of these re-
today but typically have no homes of their own. sized power figures, purity and vulnerability epitomized by a tall, emaciated,
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above: It Lies in the Eyes of the Beholder (The Man & Man),
2008. Painted fiberglass, life-size. Above right: Love Chair,
2008. Painted fiberglass, 48 x 43 x 36 in. Below: Gossip Con-
tinues, 2006. Mixed media, dimensions variable. extolling the virtues of his world and inviting the Ordinary Man to join. Their
protruding tongues—forked in the case of the politician and impossibly attenu-
ated in the case of the Ordinary Man—are repulsive. Do they now speak the
same language? In Love Chair, the dwarf (in Western clothing) and the Ordi-
nary Man share a Victorian-style courting chair, which indicates how far their
relationship has progressed. The “innocent” is now wearing trousers and
shoes, signaling his co-optation into corruption. The dwarf has now become
the mentor; he sits clasping the Ordinary Man’s hand and gazing into his face.
Gupta displays a good command of three-dimensional space, using composi-
tional tactics to pull viewers into the dynamics of his installations. Sometimes
we are interlopers, and sometimes, protagonists. An early work, Gossip Contin-
ues (2006), presaged this expertise in spatial/psychological arrangement,
deploying groups of ceramic crows in and around the MS University campus—
in the library, around a pool, and amid debris. Motion in Paralysis (2008) nar-
rows the focus to a cluster of dwarves, all of them dressed in suits and ties but
with no feet; like roly-poly toys that constantly bounce back, these figures can-
not stand. Though small in scale, they become quite menacing to negotiate,
their perennial motion threatening a viewer’s sense of personal steadiness.
and nearly naked man. This character has not yet Will they knock us down? In an ironic twist, Gupta deflates their pretensions—
learned to wear “the mask,” unlike the power-suited they are moving but getting nowhere.
dwarves in The Men…(Life is a Course of Consideration) India’s coalition politics gives ample grist to his mill. In The Left is Left
(2007). The Ordinary Man’s initiation into the brutal and The Left is Right (2007), two dwarves in white homespun stand as mirror
and fraudulent world of business/politics/bureaucracy images of each other. A powerful reminder that political parties are willing
and the process of his corruption is poignantly cap- to sacrifice ideology in their hunger for power, this work pinpoints the moral
tured in It Lies in the Eyes of the Beholder (2008) and and spiritual corruption that has corroded Indian life, revealing that the khadi-
Love Chair (2008). In the first installation, the Ordi- wearing, high-thinking, simple-living philosophy is just an illusion. It is
nary Man (wearing only underwear) is deep in conver- certainly possible to respond to Gupta’s works without knowing the political
sation with a dwarf representing the quintessential nuances, but familiarity with the dynamics of the Indian political scene
Indian politician. Costumed in Nehru vest and the gives them a much fiercer edge. A localized frame of reference supports uni-
coarse homespun cloth (khadi) associated with Gandhi versal laws of power politics in some of his works, providing an un-elaborated
and the Indian freedom struggle, he appears to be subtext that those familiar with India will instantly recognize.
38 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above: The Left is Left and The Left is Right, 2007. Painted fiberglass, 41 x 29 x 18 in. Right: The Man
with Untitled Companion, 2008. Painted fiberglass, 39 x 22 x 18 in. Below: It is Tough to Hear You
Sir…(The Chairman), 2008. Painted fiberglass, 49 x 38 x 34 in.
Gupta also uses the frog as a potent

symbol. Chinese legend tells of a frog that
swallowed the moon, thereby achieving
the unattainable; in Feng Shui practice,
keeping an image of a frog in the home
ensures wealth. In The Man with Untitled
Companion (2008), an enormous red frog
drapes himself across the shoulders of a
nattily dressed dwarf. This corporate figure
betrays no revulsion or dismay at his bur-
den; instead, he protectively covers the
frog’s webbed foot with his hand. For Gupta,
the frog symbolizes capitalism’s manipula-
tion of belief as a marketing tool. He is not
questioning the animal’s role in Feng Shui
but critiquing the link between business
and superstition in a market flooded with
Feng Shui frogs and other charms. Gupta
invokes all the complex associations
Consider the overstuffed, upholstered chair that repeatedly appears in Gupta’s works. of in the “Made in China” tag—communism
Though a simple motif, this chair is almost deified and loaded with meaning. In India, and capitalism making for strange bedfel-
where people traditionally sit on the floor, chairs, if there are any, are usually offered to lows, the oft-reported exploitation of the
those of higher status. To sit on a chair (kursi) implies authority, and politics is the game of working class, the loss of context in the
safe-guarding your chair. The chair as a construct is thus influenced by monarchy, when mass-production of unfamiliar memorabilia
only royalty sat on higher ground, and the colonial era, when Western-style seating came associated with other countries and events.
to India. It is Tough to Hear You Sir…(The Chairman) (2008) pairs a dwarf in business attire Winner of several awards, Gupta is an
and an oversized red leather chair. The little man leans a possessive arm on his prize, acting artist to watch in coming years. How he
casual behind his designer sunglasses. Gleaming and blood-red, the chair, like the blushing transcends the local and infuses the global
apple, entices and seduces, harking back to the original temptation in the Garden of Eden. into his work promises to be interesting. For
Paintings such as correct/incorrect (2008) portray similar subjects; here, a dwarf sitting on the moment, his sculptures offer a telling
a red chair presses a horn to his lips, either sucking in or spitting out the spots on a nearby commentary on contemporary India and
Dalmatian. The conundrum is reminiscent of the “His Master’s Voice” trademark made universal human greed.
famous by RCA’s picture of a dog listening to a gramophone. In Arrested Moment II, the
chair appears again, partly covered in gilding, partly in a hideous brown; the surrounding Minhazz Majumdar is a writer living in New
scaffolding hints that this symbol of power is undergoing a rehabilitation to restore its allure. Delhi.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Leaning Into
the Unknown
A Conversation with
Bob Trotman
BY MARK WASHBURN Bob Trotman lives in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains, sur-
rounded by his materials—60 acres of rolling woods from which he
occasionally extracts a dead poplar and restores it to life in comic-tragic
human images. The works featured in his “Business As Usual” exhibi-
tion, which he started carving in the 1990s, have found a popular reso-
nance in the recessionary era. These haunting sculptural tableaux depict
individuals captured in a commerce of horror. Trotman grew up in Win-
ston-Salem, North Carolina, and graduated from Washington and Lee
OPPOSITE: KEVIN REMINGTON / BOTH © BOB TROTMAN
University in Lexington, Virginia, as a philosophy major in 1969. He still

applies an existential outlook to his work, challenging viewers to figure
out the tangled knots of meaning. Trotman’s work has been given four
solo shows in New York at Franklin Parrasch Gallery and features in
Opposite: Stu, 2004. Wood, tempera, many museum collections, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,
steel, and hardware, 29 x 27 x 20 in.
the Rhode Island School of Design, the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery,
Above: Girl, 2002. Paint, tempera, and
wax on white pine, poplar, and bass- the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, and the Museum of Arts and
wood, 65 x 49 x 41 in. Design in New York.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Mark Washburn: A recent review of “Business As Usual” Tilman Riemenschneider’s (c. 1460–1531) church carvings give the strong
described your sculptures as “figureheads on a clipper feeling that the saints are weeping, even though that is not what is going
ship bound for purgatory.” Is that a glib dismissal, on. I want the cracks in my figures to reinforce the feeling that they are under
or does it capture an essential inspiration? enormous strain. Their poses say it and so does the material. The cracks are
Bob Trotman: I thought that it was a perfect summa- powerful. They scare people.
tion of what I am trying to do, which is to take the MW: The startling Cover Up, in which the legs of business people emerge from
carved wooden figure, traditionally a part of mass beneath a shroud, is central to the three components in “Business As Usual.”
culture, and make something subversive of it. My Some viewers see scapegoats, others interpret the figures as people volun-
three main historical sources are ship figureheads, tarily blinded to reality, and some see them as a commentary on shame and
carvings of saints, and wooden show figures, like denial. What historical references inspired the piece, and are you surprised
tobacconists’ Indians. by the various interpretations?
I love the feeling of a figure leaning into the wind BT: The idea for Cover Up came from The Battleship Potemkin, Sergei Eisen-
like the Nike of Samothrace. The idea that you can stein’s 1925 silent film about a failed 1905 uprising against the czar. In the film,
lean into the onrush of the unknown without falling 25 to 30 sailors who refuse to eat maggot-infested borscht are herded together
is as exhilarating as it is fanciful. It was supposed to on deck. A tarp is thrown over them, and orders are given that they be shot by
inspire a ship’s crew to bravery, especially if the fig- their fellow seamen. The tarp may mask the humanity of the victims—only
urehead was a woman. But what if the figure seemed their legs protrude—making the job easier for the executioners, but the image
to be stumbling, deranged, or even suicidal? Think of is stunning, and I wanted to recontextualize it in my narrative.
Yves Klein’s 1960 photograph, Leap into the Void. In the film, the people under the tarp are victims. Cover Up is more ambiguous.
MW: Carla Hanzal, who curated the exhibition in 2009 The corporate-clad legs (six male, two female) may belong to victims, to scape-
when it was shown at the Mint Museum, observed goats, or to people who have actually done something wrong. Viewers have
that you purposely maintain natural cracks and other suggested bonus recipients or members of the last administration. Whatever is
flaws in the wood to create a subtext in the figures. happening, a veil of denial has been thrown over everything. Denial and
KEVIN REMINGTON, © BOB TROTMAN
How does this reinforce the themes in your work? shame, certainly, but to whom exactly the shame belongs is not made clear. As
BT: The Japanese have an aesthetic called wabi-sabi, to differing interpretations, I am delighted by them. My aim is not to send a
which is said to be a Zen counterpart to the Greek aes- message but to offer an ambiguous stimulus for response, sort of a guided day-
thetic of idealized perfection. This sensibility values the dream, like a poem. My hero, Kafka, said, “[Art] is an axe for the frozen sea
beauty of imperfection—the rustic, the worn, the within us.” I want to break the ice.
frayed, the cracked—and finds in it a melancholy MW: Early in your career, you created furniture that, over the years, took on
loneliness that is consoling. The cracks in some of increasingly anthropomorphic adaptations. In Committee, a series of busts,
42 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above: Chorus (Martin, Kaitlin, Jane, Sinking Feeling), 2008.

Wood, paint, and steel, dimensions variable. Right: Cover Up,
2008. Wood, tempera, and wax, 61 x 30 x 30 in.
viewers aren’t allowed to handle the work, but they can see that there is
we see a kind of reversal—heads with drawer-like something going on with the eyes and mouths because they are carved into
inserts for eyes and mouths that can be reversed to these drawer-like blocks. This serves metaphorically to isolate the functions
create different expressions and emotions. This is of speech and vision from the stern, judging characters projected by the busts.
living wood—the faces change. What are you saying It is as if to say that these corporate actors are themselves instruments, alienated
with this innovation? from their true selves.
BT: I began about 35 years ago as a furniture crafts- By contrast, the characters of Chorus are much more emotional, although
man. My practice gradually evolved into the figura- exactly what their emotion is remains ambiguous. I’m in favor of multiple
tive sculpture that has been my entire enterprise readings. They seem to be sinking in quicksand—debt, overwork, doubt—
since 1997. Still, there is a melancholy passivity in and raising a cry of protest in the general direction of Cover Up. Some see
furniture that speaks to me and probably always will. them as souls in Hell, but my main thought in calling them Chorus was to
The furniture pieces that I made in the ’90s had a lot evoke the group in Greek tragedy whose function is to counsel and warn the
of anthropomorphic elements, but they retained protagonist.
some connection to function. It is only a small step MW: So much of your work seems to explore the notion of dislocation, either
from there to wooden mannequins, puppets, and in space or circumstance. What inspires that?
dolls, where the balance shifts in favor of expressive- BT: The feeling of dislocation comes somewhat from my personal background
ness but does not entirely rule out function. The and somewhat from the culture at large. Like many privileged and rebellious
Pinocchio story bridges this boundary from one children of the ’60s, I felt a huge gap with the suburban social values of my
side; a Salvador Dalí torso of Venus with drawers parents and sought to find meaning in a different direction, but ironically
approaches it from the other. the self they projected for me, the guy in the suit, still has a ghost existence
In Committee, I wanted to present these larger- inside me, like a phantom limb. My father was a banker, and my mother
than-life corporate personages in the form of heroic divided her time between the bridge club and the country club. It is very
and intimidating busts but undermine their power by easy for me to remember how wooden and lifeless that world felt. That is
enabling the viewer to manipulate them. In effect, the world that I want to re-create for my carved wooden characters, a world
I’m saying, “You may be powerful, but you’re not where things don’t add up, where “doing well” doesn’t necessarily mean living
autonomous. You may be bigger than me, but you well. For me, it is a dead zone, a shadow side of prosperity, a sort of purgatory
are puppets, too.” Of course, in a gallery installation, that I find very familiar, and interesting.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above: Committee (Tom, Stu, Jane, John, Lisa),

2004–05. Wood, tempera, steel, and hardware,
dimensions variable. Far left: John, 2004. Wood,
paint, and steel, 30 x 25 x 17 in. Left: Lisa, 2005.
Wood, paint, steel, and hardware, 29 x 24 x 29 in.
been instructive. William Kentridge’s nar-

ratives fascinate me, especially those with
his alter-ego, Soho Eckstein. Some other
contemporary artists making figures in wood
are Stephan Balkenhol, Katsura Funakoshi,
Marisol, and Judith Shea. I had a little per-
sonal contact with Shea in the late ’90s
and was influenced by some of her ideas
about recontextualized “statues” as ironic
Americana—anti-monuments.
MW: Do you draw on philosophical influ-
ences as well?
It’s easy to fantasize, but I feel like there are vast armies of expendable but expensively BT: As for philosophical influences, they are
uniformed mid- and upper-level workers out there, adding and subtracting columns of many. I’m always reading and watching
numbers that chart the well-being of corporations. I feel that corporations have replaced films. In the ’60s, I was exposed to existen-
real people as the constituents of our democracy; corporate power tells us we’re so lucky tialism in college, and what I took from
to be free even as it ensnares us more deeply. It paints any alternative—socialism, for that was the radical, ineluctable freedom
instance—as unthinkably evil. I’m amazed that trick still works. I don’t want to oversim- and responsibility we all have for our
plify. It’s easy to get carried away, and I know that reality is nothing if not complicated. actions and the thought that our lives are
Privilege and power form a vast web that extends in all directions. The victims in one defined by actions, not intentions. More
circumstance are the oppressors in another. No one is untainted. I see power as a barely recently, I’ve tried to educate myself in
controllable tide of misery that flows first one way then another for the short-term benefit structuralist and post-structuralist thought.
of the few and the long-term suffering of the many. I don’t think that’s changed much Pierre Bourdieu’s The Field of Cultural Pro-
in the course of history. duction has been helpful. I’ve also read
MW: Who are some of your key artistic influences? some economics and political writing,
BT: Historically, my influences are carvings of the saints (especially Riemenschneider), ship especially Marx.
figureheads, and wooden “show” figures. My faces have gotten a lot from the grotesque Doing that kind of theoretical reading is
“character heads” of F.X. Messerschmidt, an eccentric Viennese sculptor active in the something like looking at art. It’s all about
1770s. The way that contemporary artists like John Currin and Walton Ford have chan- possibility. I certainly don’t believe anymore
neled earlier artists in their work, Lucas Cranach and James Audubon, respectively, has that I am going to get “the truth.” It’s more
44 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Vertigo, 2010. Wood and tempera, 89 x 89 x 32 in. My ideas rarely come directly from real-life experiences. I make sketches, often with the
aid of digital photos and posable mannequins, and from there move on to small terra-cotta
like traveling, visiting other minds. The maquettes on which I spend a lot of time. These are enlarged into full-sized, three-view
payoff is that new thoughts of things I shop drawings from which I make patterns to cut the wood. It’s a slow and labor-intensive
might do suddenly come to me as I read. process, but it works. I have great freedom with the clay at the beginning but am quite
Those eye blocks in Committee somehow limited once I get underway with the enlargement and execution in wood, so I have to be
came from Lacan, but I couldn’t tell you pretty sure of myself at the end of the maquette stage.
how in logical terms. MW: What about the finishing, painting, and patina?
In literature, Kafka speaks to me clear- BT: When I get to the final phase, which usually takes many months, I put the maquette
est of all. His ascetic life and darkly humor- and all the plans aside, and there is a clearing where it feels up for grabs. I’ve got to do
ous grasp of our struggles to find meaning whatever I can to breathe life into the work, even though I’ve already made most of the
resonate deeply with me, as does his injec- choices and will have to live with them. I can always do something radical with what I’ve
tion of fantasy into the dreary world of mid- made, like turn it upside down.
level functionaries. “Death of a Salesman” As for coloration, I’ve found it best to stick to earth tones plus some black and white
by Arthur Miller and “Glengarry Glen Ross” because I want it to be very clear that the figures are made of wood and that the world
by David Mamet have helped me to imag- inhabited by my characters is somber, brown, and deadened, not the colorful world inhab-
ine a nightmare capitalist narrative in more ited by the living. I use water-based paints like tempera, casein, or thinned-down latex and
American terms. apply them thinly so the wood grain shows through, along with most of the cracks and
MW: How do you conceive your works, other “defects” that give the material its melancholy character. Sometimes I add bent,
and how do they move from ideas to, in rusted nails or other bits of hardware to enhance a feeling of frustration or despair. I tone
some cases, larger-than-life figures? down the cracks with sanding and papier-mâché filler to make them seem a little less raw.
BT: Ideas often come from things I’ve seen Wax offers protection and gives the surface a little sheen.
in films, in newspapers, in magazines, MW: Next project?
or in advertisements. Art films are terrific BT: I recently finished Vertigo, a sculpture commissioned by the North Carolina Museum of
sources because complex narrative ideas Art in Raleigh for its permanent collection. It is a 7.5-foot-tall businessman suspended from
have already been translated into striking the ceiling, appearing to be jumping or falling into space. It has a caricature of my own
visual form. There is a lot of similarity with head, the first time I’ve done that. This piece is part of “Inverted Utopias,” a retrospective
what I do. Thanks to Netflix, I can watch of the last 10 years of my work at the North Carolina Museum of Art (on view through
© BOB TROTMAN
anything and photograph reference shots March 27).

right off the TV screen. I keep notebooks of
clippings that strike me as having potential. Mark Washburn is an arts and media writer for The Charlotte Observer.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGSF
Mother and Child, 2008. Steel, 5 x 5 x 7 ft.
Adam Walls’s intimate engagement with steel links

the divergent forms of his work. His sculptural out-
put moves back and forth along a fairly broad spec-
trum of possibilities. At one end is the manipulation
of raw steel into human-scaled, simplified forms, unfin-
ished and left to rust (Mother and Child, Figures, Rings
I and II). Such sculptures read largely as responses to
the formal possibilities presented by the medium itself,
but some are also imbued with a complex personal
iconography. As other writers have noted, the details
of the symbolism are only rarely available to viewers,
and, in the case of Mother and Child, full comprehen-
sion also requires cooperative weather. (Displayed
outside in the rain, the two components are placed
so that water collecting in the larger form “feeds” the
smaller one.) The personal, often autobiographical,
content imbedded in many of Walls’s works, although
interesting and sometimes profound, remains obscure,
yet formal tensions effectively express the intensity,
with or without access to the details. Works at the
other end of Walls’s creative spectrum, his signature
“tanks” and related pieces, are even more laden with
convoluted personal meaning. There are clear and
self-conscious links to Pop Art and popular culture,
but Walls pushes beyond self-involved, if socially gen-
erated, introversion. Nor does he rely on the shock
value of scatological and overtly sexual inferences so
common in contemporary sculpture with a similar
genealogy.
It takes a while for the more sinister and troubling
aspects of works like PLAYTOON, Like Father, Like Son,
and Jack-in-the-Box to bleed into the viewer’s conscious-
Adam Walls
ness. The rather obvious, in-your-face messages of
artists from Roy Lichtenstein to Mike Kelley are not
to be found in Walls’s work. Darker content is passed
along so gently and subtly that these sculptures can,
and do, engage and speak to virtually any audience.
Animated Steel Almost no one is immediately put off.

Walls recently installed eight works in a sleepy
North Carolina town, where they were enormously
well received. Rather than being jarred awake to the
world of contemporary art, the citizens of Lumberton
were quietly alerted to a wealth of ideas and possibili-
ties, presented in a playful array of sculptural forms
BY AMELIA TREVELYAN scattered throughout the local landscape. Walls’s
works are clearly unlike anything seen previously in
Lumberton, yet they presented no immediate threat,
aesthetically or culturally. As a result, the installation,
which was scheduled to last only a year, has been in
place for over 18 months and extended indefinitely.
Walls regularly reconfigures the citywide show with
new works.
sculpture
A
BEMaGSF
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above left: Self-Portrait, 2004. Steel, 77 x 65 x 106 in. Above right: PLAYTOON, 2005. Steel, installation view. Below: Toy Defense, 2004. Steel, 8 x 6 x 10 ft.
In the “tanks” like PLAYTOON and Kerplunk, Walls has developed

an evocative form that he can manipulate for narrative and emo-
tional content, at whatever degree the viewer cares to engage. The
expressive power of these works rests on two formal elements:
Walls’s redefinition of the tank form and color. The barrels, the
“business end” of the vehicle, so to speak, are presented at various
angles. As such, they act as directional prompts in narrative pieces
and even suggest emotional states. Instead of wheels or the more
characteristic tank treads, Walls’s forms have elongated ovals,
front and back. The exact shapes vary, as does their positioning.
Applied to each vehicle, these anomalies imply a certain kind of
forward or backward motion. But that motion would be so irregu-
lar, and comical, that combined with the directional prompt of the
long “noses” (the barrels), the vehicles take on distinct personali-
ties. They are all brightly colored, like pull toys for a toddler. The
color, combined with the large, simplified shapes, endows them
with the animated quality of cartoon characters—clearly neither
real nor alive, but with recognizable human characteristics. The
large scale of these steel “toys” provides the added power of a
massive physical presence.
Although Walls acknowledges his debt to artists like Lichtenstein
and Claes Oldenburg, as well as to animated films, his easy move-
ments between toys and war, play and violence, have far more
in common with Japanese anime as reconfigured, for example,
by Takashi Murakami. The tendency to take serious topics, like
those addressed by Walls, and present them as “cute,” to address
death and violence with a degree of humor and lighthearted- not present their content (however the viewer might like to read
ness, is the essence of ecchi, (a basic component of manga and it), without color, without the big, bright, outlined forms that
anime). determine the nature and quality of the viewer’s response. Walls’s
For more than half a century, critics and art historians have work is sculpture that becomes painting, a symbiosis of diver-
been talking and theorizing about how painting and drawing have gent media as well as content. Medium and message are com-
blurred the boundaries between media—becoming more and pletely interdependent and utterly contradictory, derived from
more like sculpture from Frank Stella’s monumental paintings and enriched by physical entities that exist as two very differ-
on irregularly shaped stretchers to Matthew Richie’s drawings, ent beings, simultaneously.
which move off the wall and morph into three-dimensional struc-
tures. Walls’s sculptures blur the boundaries in the opposite direc- Amelia Trevelyan is an art historian who teaches at the Univer-
tion. His brightly colored tanks could not be what they are, could sity of North Carolina, Pembroke.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
FINDING RESONANT DETAILS

IN A BIG PICTURE
A Conversation with
BY JAN RILEY
ETIENNE FROSSARD, COURTESY THE ARTIST
FastForwardFossil: Part 2 (detail), 2009.

Harvested #2 plastic, 7 x 14 x 30 ft.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
A professor of sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design, Ellen Driscoll is known for complex installations
such as The Loophole of Retreat (Whitney Museum at Philip Morris, 1991) and Passionate Attitudes (Thread-
waxing Space, 1995), as well as a variety of public art projects including As Above, So Below, a suite of mosaic
and glass works for Grand Central Terminal (1999); Catching the Drift, a women’s restroom for the Smith College
Museum of Art (2003); Aqueous Humour, a kinetic sculpture for the South Boston Maritime Park (2004); and
a recently completed work at the Cambridge Public Library. Driscoll has been awarded fellowships from the
Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the
Massachusetts Cultural Council, Anonymous Was a Woman, the LEF Foundation, and Radcliffe’s Bunting Insti-
tute. Her work is included in major public and private collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and the Whitney Museum of Art.
In 1992, I showed a group of Driscoll’s pieces when I was a curator at the Contemporary Art Center in
Cincinnati. Her recent work—FastForwardFossil: Part 1, which appeared at the Frederieke Taylor Gallery,
and FastForwardFossil: Part 2—seems to be completely new. While the earlier sculptures spoke from a per-
sonal point of view and were made of organic materials like wood, paper, and cloth, the new, politically driven
pieces seem more emotionally detached, their distance reinforced by the use of plastic. For Driscoll, though,
the new work “has a similar template—the issue of power and displacement.” And like her earlier work, these
new pieces continue to make viewers see familiar things from unexpected angles.
Jan Riley: Your new work seems to have changed in they could only give me a small amount of money. So, I collected bottles on
material, as well as in intent. the Parisian streets and returned them for cash (in addition to other jobs like
Ellen Driscoll: I feel absolutely driven, in a personal way, tutoring and babysitting). That was then—and the motivation was different—
in this recent work. Sometimes I say to myself that I but the body doing the collecting is the same, just 37 years older. I do so much
am trying to understand the global warming apoca- reading and thinking about the impending global warming disaster. It’s hard to
lypse by passing it through my fingertips, by counting wrap your mind around something so big—the dramatic changes in habits and
it on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour basis, by mapping it lifestyle required to shift the course are not something that our species seems
CURTIS HAMILTON, COURTESY THE ARTIST
block to city block—knowing full well that this is futile able to do yet—so this work is driven by a need to make that Big Idea very,
but insisting on somehow making physical contact with very local and, by labor, to pass it through my own corporeal and emotional
its proportions. One early morning, while collecting understanding so that I can get a grip on it—literally, with my own two hands.
bottles on the street, I had a flashback to myself at 19. JR: Writing about Damián Ortega’s political works, Richard Leslie recently
I was doing a semester abroad in Paris, and just before noted that “it is a central problem with all such art: to be on message but
I left the United States, my father lost his job. My par- not literal, leaving room for the power of the imagination in both artist and
ents insisted that I go and have the experience, but viewer.” Do you agree, and if so, how do you go about solving this problem?
50 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Opposite: FastForwardFossil: Part 1, 2009. Harvested #2 plastic, 4 x 8 x 18 ft. Above: Details of oil refinery, oil rig, and McMansion.
ED: I completely agree because literalism seems disre- ED: My research process is always both visual and verbal. I look at lots of pic-
spectful. We are complex human beings, and art should tures, and I read a great deal. Somewhere in the amassing of information, my
go to the heart of that complexity and expose it. I attack mind becomes like a tuning fork, and certain details start to resonate—details
the “problem” or rather the “proposition” (because I that are essentially sculptural in nature. It could be a small thing—the construc-
want my work to toss questions into the atmosphere) tion of boards over an open sewer, a provisional detention hut in Iraq, a dump-
via the methods that I mentioned. Keeping it local ster at a luxury condo development—and from there, I start to test whether that
means making things with my own hands, under- detail can signify a much larger space, a much bigger condition. This has been
standing things with my own eyes—not getting too big my process for a long time. In The Loophole of Retreat, for example, the entire
or vague about anything, while always keeping the big piece was based on a detail of a hole in the eaves that Harriet Jacobs made with
picture present. At the same time, I always keep my a tool left over from the construction of her hiding place. The scaffolding that
eye tuned to the visual equivalent of synecdoche—the appears in this new work, attached like a parasite to a host and preventing the
fragment that expresses the whole. There are things in collapse of larger forms while simultaneously draining off energy, is a symbol
my tool kit that I return to again and again. I use scale— of the tenuous global and intimate relationships that I am discussing.
something large will shrink and become tiny—defor- JR: Does a subject or a need to hunt for details and history lead you to a project?
TOP: CURTIS HAMILTON, COURTESY THE ARTIST / BOTTOM: CLEMENTS AND HOWCROFT, COURTESY THE ARTIST
estation, a slum. In this way, it becomes more fright- ED: I would say that it’s a need to attempt to understand the big picture
ening, more haunted, and more powerful because of embodied by the small, but concrete detail—because that’s all we have. We’ve
the almost child-like attempt to reduce it to dollhouse
size and the primitive psychic power released by minia-
turization. I return again and again to light, shadow,
silhouette, translucency, and mirroring—because one
thing becomes two or more, revealing the paradox of
substantiality and insubstantiality in one phenomenon,
or one moment.
JR: In FastForwardFossil: Part 1, you built parts of the
Niger Delta, an oil refinery in Nigeria, and the tar sands
of Alberta, Canada. Unless viewers are told, most can-
not identify the locations. The specificity of those places
and the history of U.S. involvement with them give the
work much of its emotional weight. How many of the
connections made in your research do you want viewers
to be able to take away?
Aqueous Humour, 2004. Steel and glass, view of work at the

South Boston Maritime Park, a collaboration with MAKE.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
The public works and the studio-based, “private”

works are related, like siblings or cousins—sharing in
some traits and differing in others. The former must
always be connected to the specificity of a site; the latter
have a greater freedom to be nomadic, to exist in more
than one context. In the former, I am looking for ways
in which something local and bounded by geography, by
history, can leap over those boundaries and extend to
something more universal, more encompassing. In a
transit site like a library, for example, you can assume
that people of many nationalities, languages, and cul-
tures use the place—a place that is physically bounded,
Above: Filament/Firmament, 2010. Glass, cable, and metal, view of work at the Cambridge but poetically not. I try to design and build with this
Public Library, MA. Below: Parallax, 2004. Video stills, dimensions variable, a collaboration paradox of boundedness and unboundedness in mind.
with Jane D. Marsching. The studio work generally responds to a specific
architecture of an exhibition space (I make architec-
tural models to be precise about scale), but a muta-
ble quality is built into the work; parts can be recon-
figured, added on, and subtracted to adapt to new
spaces down the line. In other words, it’s just the physi-
cal architecture of an exhibition space, not its history
or context—and that allows the work to be adaptable.
This adaptability suits the ethos of the studio work—
and there is also a built-in ethos of recycling. After
several exhibitions of a given work, I dive in and recy-
cle it—nothing is sacred. This is a relief from the pres-
sure of building public works for longevity. The dialec-
tic between these two modes of working keeps things
fresh for me.
JR: In your description of making FastForwardFossil:
Part 1, you say, “Rising at 5:30 a.m., I harvest #2 plas-
tic bottles from the recycling bags put out for collection
on the streets of Brooklyn. For one hour, one day at a
time, I immerse myself in the tidal wave of plastic that
engulfs us by collecting as many bottles as I can carry.”
There is also an image of you attached to a long string
of plastic bottles as you walk home from your collecting.
Is there a performative aspect to your recent works in
got our two hands, our feet, our eyes, and we move through the world plastic? Or is the hunting and gathering of the plastic
understanding things somatically and haptically, as well as imaginatively. merely a task that has to be done?
I’m always looking for ways to pack an object with a larger sense of “what ED: There is no performative aspect to the collecting.
has happened before this” or “around this.” The research is often a thinly The image physically measures how many bottles I can
veiled attempt to look for that emblematic detail, the object that can carry collect in an hour—130—on roughly three to four
the weight. blocks. It’s also that kind of slightly comical Everyman
TOP: PHYLLIS BRETHOLZ / BOTH: COURTESY THE ARTIST
JR: Do you make a difference between commissioned pieces and your private image designed to generate empathy for the scene and
studio work? get people to come to the show because they are
ED: It’s all about scale really, and everything is connected in a continuum. In intrigued and want to know what happens next. In my
other words, the global is personal, and part of what I am trying to do in this real collecting, I am at pains not to draw attention to
new work is to connect the dots between the far-flung consequences of inti- myself, so I put the bottles in recycling bags; I don’t
mate daily acts that seem inconsequential—like sipping water out of a plas- have time to string them. The work of collecting is
tic bottle. Is that an emotional thing? Yes, if you click in to the fact that our quite time-sensitive because you are always aware
seemingly innocuous consumption of the water contained in that plastic is that there’s a short time between dawn and when
based on the larger picture of oil, which is causing dire poverty in places like the trucks come. Also, there’s a kind of code of manners
Nigeria (from which we get a lot of our crude). for collectors, respectful of the fact that everyone has
52 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Above and details: FastForwardFossil: Part 2, 2009. Harvested #2 plastic,

7 x 14 x 30 ft.
work to do, and interruptions to that work (like making a spectacle Two mosaic companies bid for the job in a “blind” submission to
of yourself) aren’t welcome. the MTA. They chose the most beautiful sample without knowing
JR: Parallax demonstrates how you use puppets and figures as stand- the identity of the fabricator. The image was a photograph that I
ins for Everyman/woman. Most of your work is representational, had taken of my assistant, Julie Nathanson, posing as Persephone
but not figurative. What is your relationship with the figure, and and eating a pomegranate—but pixilated into quarter-inch squares
why are you drawn to using a universal figure from time to time? of glass in 18 shades of gray. The effect was eerie: mosaic is such an
ED: This is a hard question. There is no such thing as a universal fig- ancient art, the photograph mimicked 19th-century pioneering
ure—and yet there is, because human bodies share basic physiolo- efforts at motion photography, and the pixel effect is, of course,
gy across time and culture. Such paradoxes entice me. A puppet is from our own time. The Mayer studio was pioneering this tech-
at one remove, like a doll. As children, we invest powerful psychic nique at a time when nobody else had thought of it. It has since
energy in these surrogates; as adults, the residue of that invest- been replicated quite a lot—but then, it was a stunning innovation.
ment burns in us like an ember. So, there is a weird recognition of The collaboration with Franz Mayer has extended my work in new
the generalized double, or doppelganger, that gives a lot of space ways and challenged me. Our most recent collaboration tested us
for individual projection. In public projects, this can be quite use- in terms of both scale and fabrication technique. Wingspun (2008)
ful, and in more private work, I return to it periodically as a way of is an 800-foot glass wall that forms the membrane between Inter-
stirring things up or “acting something out,” especially things that national and Domestic Arrivals in Terminal C at the Raleigh-Durham
might be particularly troubling like a death in the family or losing airport. Since this was bigger than what could be done at Mayer’s
all my hair (in 2001)—things better dealt with through ventrilo- Munich studio, they acted as consultants to help me find fabrica-
quism or throwing my voice through the double. tors in other parts of Germany—Westphal and Buefa—who did a
ETIENNE FROSSARD, COURTESY THE ARTIST
JR: Was Aqueous Humour the first piece in which you used glass high-end lamination process in which every window is printed digi-
and worked with Franz Mayer of Munich? How did you come to tally on a piece of film the size of the glass and then sealed between
this collaboration, which has proven so fruitful? two panes. The mural has no repeat images in it, and it tells a story
ED: The very first piece was As Above, So Below for the northern of the original inhabitants of North Carolina, the arrivals from
passages of Grand Central Terminal at 45th, 47th, and 48th streets. England, through slavery, to the present immigration from Asia,
We started in 1993, and it opened to the public five years later. and lots, lots more.
This first project was also our most extensive—it is a suite of 12
large mosaics in multiple locations, depicting cosmological ideas. Jan Riley is a writer and curator living in New York.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
COMPLEXITY
BRANDON WEBSTER, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HEMPHILL
in Simplicity
MARY EARLY
BY TWYLENE MOYER
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Mary Early views her spare configurations as records of objects, spaces, and
impressions. While these sculptural distillations bear traces of things seen and
remembered, they upend expectations, giving their own version of the truth as
it might apply to appearances, materials, and processes. Deceptively simple—
the kind of work that you might think to grasp at a glance—Early’s forms also,
and unexpectedly, record a history of labor, unpacking their supposedly instant
gratification over time while unwinding a succession of nuanced contradictions
that reward prolonged engagement.
Early’s work has become increasingly pared down over the last several years,
moving from mysterious cement and wax sculptures that resembled crystalline
flowers, sea urchins, and horse chestnuts to cellular arch and tower constructions
and encircling skeletal floor pieces—these last executed in her signature materials
of wood and beeswax. With ordered, serialized components, pronounced physical
presence, and overt materiality, these sculptures all respond to the core concerns
of Post-Minimalism (Early cites Rachel Whiteread and Martin Puryear as important
inspirations), but the recent wood and beeswax constructions complicate the
picture by investing life and movement into the stationary object.
Growing from accretion as individual repeated elements adhere to each other
and spread via an internalized logic, Early’s sculptures follow organic principles of
structure and pattern. While such organization goes hand in hand with naturally
derived forms, it seems a perversion for the same principles to generate modules
allied with manmade constructions. Yet the application of a counter-intuitive
BRANDON WEBSTER, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HEMPHILL
insight makes perfect sense for an artist interested in the psychology of objects
and how we respond to and perceive them. This hybridization of the natural, with
all its messy imperfections, and a minimal tectonics, with its promise of regular-
ized perfection, accounts for the peculiar attractive force of Early’s work—the rea-
son why it compels and lingers on in the mind. We don’t expect reductivist form
to have anything to do with the prolix creation of nature (despite scientific investi-
gations into the mathematical dynamics of growth), nor do we look to it for indi-
Above: Untitled (wreath), 2008–10. viduality, subtlety, or gesture—and yet these sculptures, sometimes no more
Wood and beeswax, 48 x 100 in. diame- than wax-covered lengths of cut wood that resemble nothing so much as lath in
ter. Above right: Untitled, 2009. Wood their proportions, infuse warmth and resonance into a severely constrained formal
and beeswax, 36 x 150 in. diameter. vocabulary.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
That even Early’s most minimal configu-

rations succeed in impressing themselves
upon unsuspecting viewers confirms the
payoff behind her investment in laborious
process. Those seemingly standardized cuts
of wood are in fact painstakingly sized, cut
by hand, glued together (sometimes thou-
sands of sheet-thin strips), bound in cheese-
cloth, and sealed in layer after layer of milky
yellow beeswax. A careful look reveals that
the real illusion is the one that mistakenly
dismisses these artisanal works as sterile
exercises in uniformity and stasis. Behind
the façade of symmetry that first captures
our attention lies the true, almost imper-
ceptible, source of the magnetism. Faced
Above: Untitled, 2005. Wood and beeswax, 115 with Early’s works, we intuitively see past
x 72 in. diameter. Left: Untitled (waffle), 2006–07. the superficial order and respond to slight
Wood and beeswax, 52 x 26 x 28 in. variations, ruptures, and distortions in the
visual harmonics—as with the human face,
where beauty originates in asymmetries, too much perfection here would be deadly.
Rhythm, interval, and intonation, along with the play of opacity and transparency, solid
and void, light and shadow, balance and gravity (and that pervasive, sometimes over-
powering scent of beeswax) all coalesce in a reverential celebration of the physical.
When your chosen formal language is reduced to bare essentials—from fence- or sawhorse-
like arrangements of posts to cell, accordion, or honeycomb constructions—each work
becomes a study in nuance. Early mines the subtlest changes for inflection of meaning.
Take, for example, Untitled (wreath) (2008–10) and Untitled (2009): in each work, a three-
stage ring of propped posts emanates from a central vortex in a centrifugal dance. Despite
their structural similarity, their psychological effect, and our approach to them, could not
be more different. Where the bright, cautionary yellow wreath withholds itself, contracting
in tight overlapping folds that physically bar the eye, the paler, mellow-hued Untitled
generously expands and lowers its lattice to welcome vision, as well as the play of air
and space. Open and closed renderings of the same configuration, their complementary
opposition relies on nothing more complicated than an astute use of color, height, and
TOP: COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HEMPHILL / BOTTOM: GREG STALEY, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HEMPHILL
numerical density—the 14 interior spokes in Untitled increase to 21 in wreath (number
also plays an essential role in natural growth and pattern formation). Seen together, they
capture a breath-like rhythmic exchange of opening and closing, folding and unfolding.
A similar dynamic undergirds the cellular and accordion/honeycomb structures, which,
unlike the spoke pieces, close off part of their forms behind solid façades. These sur-
faces can lie in flat layers like Elizabethan collars or spread upright in fan-like pleats—
either way, cells generate and subdivide between the organizing walls, each one an
individual marked by the artist’s gesture and altered by the forces of weight, torque,
and pressure. Here, the dimensions of the cell, its horizontal or vertical disposition,
and the degree of its penetration into the form—all dictated by specialized variables
in Early’s laws of growth—perform the enlivening function. In Untitled (waffle) (2006–07),
the architectonic grid of cubicles sways and twists, its undulations stirring up that
familiar centrifugal spin. Untitled (arch), on the other hand, is much more stable and
self-contained, its narrowed, squashed cells wedged into the space between wall and
floor. Unlike the freely evolved waffle, with its light construction and permeable openings
that track movement through and not just around the form, arch develops in response
to specific constraints that determine its implied buttressing function. Hunkered into
a dense honeycomb, its deep chambers become deformed and increasingly compressed
as they bear accumulated weight near the floor.
56 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
LEFT: GREG STALEY, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HEMPHILL / RIGHT: BRANDON WEBSTER, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND HEMPHILL
Left: Untitled (arch), 2004–06. Wood, wood putty, and beeswax, 38 x 26 x 38 in. Right: Untitled, 2010. Wood and beeswax, 48 x 8 x 6 in.
Posts or cells, Early’s forms reveal her fascination with a centralized, circular void, a In nature, the laws of animate and inani-
vacated starting point that spawns outward expansion. Even arch follows the princi- mate growth follow a relatively small num-
ple of central radiation as far as it can, opportunistically injecting itself into the only ber of potential paths to generate a wildly
available space (pull it away from the wall, release its tightly accordioned pleats, link the diverse (and yet intimately related) array of
ends, and you’ll have a perfect circle around an empty space). Her most recent work, three-dimensional and planar forms. Early
however, begins to envision the nature of possible cores, giving shape to what has until has set a similar task for herself, selecting
now remained invisible. basic building blocks, establishing rigorous
The bone-like Untitled (2010) is a rare specimen in Early’s repertoire—a singular, unpar- parameters, and complicating organized
tified whole. This stand-alone form might seem a fossilized relic, but it refuses the frozen- logistics with special variations and contin-
in-stasis model of Brancusi’s grounded Bird in Space. A mid-point, wasp-waisted thin- gencies. The ultimate designer and law-
ness gradually extends upward and downward, torquing ever so slightly as it thickens maker, she is free to step in and bend the
into volumetric and geometric complexity at the ends. If a planar sheet of accordion path of creation, evolving new processes
pleats could be grown into a solid form, it would look like this. All of the processes that and prototypes that redefine artistic vitality.
define Early’s work—division, accretion, aggregation—find new energy here, re-gener-
ated as a three-dimensional solid. In fact, Untitled is nothing less than abstract move- Twylene Moyer is the Managing Editor of
ment enfleshed. Sculpture.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
DENIS MORTELL PHOTOGRAPHY 2009, © CORBAN WALKER, COURTESY DUBLIN CITY GALLERY, THE HUGH LANE AND PACE GALLERY
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
PERCEPTUAL
ENCOUNTERS
Corban
Walker
BY JOHN GAYER It could be argued that Corban Walker, who will represent Ireland at the 54th Venice
Biennale this year, stands as one of Minimalism’s most talented heirs. Take, for example,
his “Grid Stacks” series (2007), glass works that echo Robert Smithson’s Glass Stratum
(1967). Executed with intense precision, these vitreous constructions prove how the
mundane process of placing one thing atop another can lead to the production of alluringly
complex visual structures. Other stacked works include the more architectural Untitled
(10 x 4 Miter) (2009), recently shown at the Pace Gallery in New York.
In Mapping Hugh Lane (2009), Walker turned his attention to another mainstay of Mini-
malist sculpture—the making of boxes. Squeezed into the oblong oval of the Charlemont
House wing of the Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, Walker’s two boxes recalled
G.R. CHRISTMAS, © CORBAN WALKER, COURTESY PACE GALLERY
works by Donald Judd, Larry Bell, and Sol LeWitt, as well as Dan Graham’s pavilions.
Assembled from sumptuous, deep-blue sheets of Perspex tacked to skeletal wooden
grids, Mapping provided a disorienting encounter and forced viewers to de-accelerate.
The immense scale was intimidating. After stepping into the gap between the objects,
many viewers initially felt trapped by the reflective surfaces, which seemed to bar access
to the rest of the space. But closer examination revealed the limits and volumetric quali-
Opposite: Mapping Hugh Lane, 2009. ties of this barrier. The Perspex simultaneously acted as wall, mirror, and window, making
Plexiglas and timber, 2 elements, it possible to look at, into, and through the boxes. Its transparency demonstrated that
305 x 304.5 x 406 cm. each. Above: the installation could be circumnavigated. Surveying the defining characteristics of the
Float, 2008. Low-iron and clear-float boxes also directed attention to the relationship between their structure and the room
glass, 96.8 x 60.3 x 60.3 cm. containing them, an obviously discordant affair.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Strategically placed in an interconnected series of

classically appointed oval galleries, Walker’s installa-
tion challenged both the design of the building and
Charlemont House’s status as home to a collection of
historical art. Neither echoing the golden glow of a
nearby selection of Corot paintings, nor intimating
the pageantry of the central hall’s pillared walls and
vaulted ceiling, the cool tone and uninflected surfaces
of these rationally organized structures accorded
a disruptive presence, antithetical in mood and form.
The boxes taciturnly ruptured the viewing space by
imposing severe restrictions. With accessibility curbed
to the corridors, viewing became a fragmentary expe-
Above: Bridge Year, 2006. Stainless steel, glass, and LED, 640 x 176 x 330 cm. Below: rience that occurred in distinct stages. Standing in the
Mapping 4, 2000. Glass, two-way mirror, and acrylic, dimensions variable. gap, for example, revealed the objects’ planar aspects.
Not only were the front and back walls of the boxes
visible, but a third wall floating in the space between
them—the reflection of the box behind the viewer—
could also be seen. From the gap, one sidled through
the corridors, their sameness occasionally broken by
minor changes in detail. In this environment, an air
vent or the ghostly presence of another figure on the
far side of the room took on great significance. The
experience also foregrounded a discomforting dichotomy
of materials. A posted warning noting the susceptibility
of Perspex to scratching led viewers to scrape against
the walls as they passed through the cramped passages.
Physical contact with the hardness and opacity of
TOP: © CORBAN WALKER, COURTESY PACE GALLERY / CENTER AND BOTTOM: ELLEN PAGE WILSON, © CORBAN WALKER, COURTESY PACE GALLERY
the building reiterated notions of permanence and
strength, drawing a sharp contrast with the see-
through, aquarium-like framework of Walker’s boxes,
as well as the hydrous color and fragility of the Per-
spex. The concave and shadowy extremities of the
room conveyed another range of experiences. Here,
movement through the space produced constantly
changing reflections that contradicted both the unifor-
mity of the grid and the continuity imposed by base-
boards and patterned wood. These distortions upended
points of reference and stimulated careful observa-
Below: Runway, 2007. Diamante glass, 117.5 x 10.6 x 159.4 cm. tion. In the process, moving in to peruse the surface
of the wall disclosed a Newman-esque color space.
Mapping Hugh Lane was the most recent installment
of “The Golden Bough,” an exhibition series developed
by senior curator Michael Dempsey. Referring to both
Roman mythology and Sir J.G. Frazier’s early 20th-cen-
tury study of magic and religion, the title represents
a key or passport that permits passage into realms
enveloped in darkness, mystery, and danger. And
indeed, previous incarnations—the powerful expression
of darkness in Garret Phelan’s gargantuan splotch of
black paint and tombs eliciting faint radio transmis-
sions, the engagingly mysterious intertwining of time
and space in Grace Weir’s videos, and the dare-devilish
risk permeating Brian Duggan’s immersive facsimile of a
60 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Three views of Mapping Hugh Lane, 2009. Plexiglas and timber, 2 elements,
305 x 304.5 x 406 cm. each.
motorcycle thrill show—responded to facets of the theme as if on

cue. Walker’s installation distinguished itself from the preceding
presentations through its engagement of the architecture. While
the other artists attempted to work with the oval and evaded artifi-
cial illumination, Walker’s abruptly rectilinear presentation came
fully lit. Moreover, though it echoed the symmetrical configuration
of the room, it rejected cyclical or circular motifs. Mapping Hugh
Lane operated more like traditional sculpture—one experienced it
visually and through its relationship to the body. It also embodied
DENIS MORTELL PHOTOGRAPHY 2009, © CORBAN WALKER, COURTESY DUBLIN CITY GALLERY, THE HUGH LANE AND PACE GALLERY
humor. With each box encapsulating one of the built-in wooden

benches, the opportunity to sit idly was surreptitiously nixed. Wal-
ker literally kept people on their feet and, by extension, ensured
that viewing remained an active process.
In redirecting traffic through the oval, Mapping Hugh Lane influ-
enced behavior and divulged characteristics of the architecture and
its own constitution that might otherwise never have been encoun-
tered. It challenged viewers to sort through myriad intricacies—the
play of light, color, scale, and proportion, planar correspondences,
ornamentation, materials, the limitation and extension of space,
and themes of fractionization and containment. Navigating its twists
and turns created a compendium of images and impressions. Looking
engendered more looking, and the tension instituted by the loom-
ing presence invigorated the room and changed its role. Pulled
into a face-off pitting one vocabulary against another, the gallery
transcended its role as outdated backdrop and attained currency.
The confrontation treated viewers to an adventure that altered
assumptions regarding both the nature of the room and that of
the boxes. As intrusions into the rudimentariness of artistic excur-
sions go, the physical, perceptual, and conceptual consequences
of this detour occasioned one of the best types of art experience.
John Gayer is a writer based in Dublin.
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
__________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
___________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
For Individuals For Organizations

Membership Benefits
r
io
en
l
na
y
at a Glance
t/S
te
or d
sio
sit
nd re
*
cia
en
er
nd
es
Ve fer
St ic/
tro
so
ud
iv
of
ie
s
e
Un
As
Ba
Pa
Pr
Pr
Fr
10 issues of Sculpture magazine
• • • • 10 each
month
10 each
month •
10 issues of Insider
• • • • 10 each
month
10 each
month •
Reduced registration fees for conferences
• • • • for 3
faculty
for 3 for trade
members fair
Access to password-protected areas of www.sculpture.org

• • • • • • •
Discounts from ISC member vendors
• • • • • • •
2 free 6 free 10 free 10 free 10 free 10 free 10 free
Listing on Portfolio/Inclusion in ISC website’s Directory images images images images images images images
A copy of an ISC Press publication

• • •
Image of your artwork on the ISC website’s homepage
• • •
Acknowledgement as a professional artist in Portfolio
• • •
Ability to nominate students for ISC Student Award
•
Aknowledgement of support in every issue of Sculpture
• • • • •
Discount on advertisements in Sculpture 25% 30% 30% 25% 25% 30%
Inclusion on the ISC’s website as a contributor

• • • • •
Inclusion in Sculpture’s and website’s exhibition listings
and features •
Discounts on multiple copies of Sculpture
• • •
25%
2 tickets to the Lifetime Achievement Award Gala discount
free
Gift subscriptions to Sculpture 1 2
Invitations to special events and symposiums

• •
Company logo on the ISC website’s Sponsors page
•
Opportunity to make presentations at conferences and
post articles on the ISC’s website •
Inclusion in conference programs
•
* Basic Vendor Membership is free and includes a listing on the
ISC’s website directory
See website for more details on this and all membership benefits
www.sculpture.org
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
____________________________
_____________________
____________________
_________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
_________________
__________________
_______________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
___________
___________
___________
__________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
__________________
______________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
____________
_________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
_________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
reviews
N e w Yo r k abstraction, their emphasis on sim- the sculptures appeared as frag-
Eva Hesse plicity has led some critics to consid- ments of a larger gesture, giving
Hauser & Wirth er them as mere exercises and stud- the impression that each one serves
In addition to creating elaborate ies. On the surface, Fer’s terminology as a single expressive mark that
large-scale sculptures and installa- suggests exactly that, implying that only finds completion when set in
tions, Eva Hesse consistently pro- they were not only created in the stu- conjunction with others in a final,
duced a variety of small experimen- dio, but also meant to stay there. and more complex, composition.
tal works during her short career. Hauser & Wirth’s elegant exhibi- This notion was reinforced by the
Coined “Studioworks” by Hesse schol- tion, which used only Hesse’s name fact that the pieces have much in
ar Briony Fer, these sculptures in the title, stayed clear of terminol- common. Of the 14 untitled works,
embody a sense of immediacy and ogy. By presenting a selection most were made of treated cheese-
spontaneity that sets them apart as of Studioworks on a large wooden cloth (one of Hesse’s favored materi-
a unique group. Last winter, Fer plinth as raw as a studio table, the als) and/or papier-caché. They are
and Barry Rosen curated “Eva Hesse: show remained decisively ambigu- biomorphic and defined by strong
Studiowork” at the Camden Arts ous as to whether they should be curves, folds, and sometimes cup-
Centre in London, which marked the viewed as test pieces that simply ping forms that allude to vessel or
first attempt to explore these works formed part of Hesse’s reference body shapes. They also reveal a
in depth. While the Studioworks vocabulary or as true works of art. strong concern for texture and tac-
reflect Hesse’s unique skill in trans- Grouped in one installation, howev- tility, which are employed to negoti-
forming restrained gestures into er, the independent identity of each ate subtleties of color and a sense
Minimalist contemplations of poetic work was somewhat lost. Instead, of translucence.
Right: Eva Hesse, No title, 1968. Latex, cheesecloth, plastic, and metal, 108 x 17.8 x 1.9 cm. Below: Eva Hesse,
No title, 1969. Cheesecloth and adhesive, 43.7 x 28.5 x 11.5 cm.
Hesse wrote in 1969 that it was

her ultimate goal “to get to non-
art,” to create objects that would
be free of historic or emotional con-
notations. Interestingly, these works
do not achieve that and might
not even have been an expression of
this ambition. In fact, they are some
TOP: ABBY ROBINSON, NY / BOTH: © ESTATE OF EVA HESSE, COURTESY HAUSER & WIRTH
of Hesse’s most easily associative
works. Their simplicity draws atten-
tion to their materiality, which
evokes fragility. The cheesecloth
brings bandages to mind, the veil-
ing and protection of the human
body at its most vulnerable.
Hesse’s difficulties in finding and
defining herself are intimately
described in her journals. Fears of
death, abandonment, and illness
recurred frequently, and though
Hesse is considered an abstract
artist, her works are steeped in life.
The Studioworks share this quality.
They are fragments, but not in form;
72 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Left: Eva Hesse, No title, 1968. String,

canvas, and stuffing, 28 x 28 x 13 cm.
Right: John Toki, Blue Storm, 2008.
Ceramic, 46 x 12 x 10 in. Below: Gin-
ger Wolfe-Suarez, Theory of a family,
2010. Mixed media, installation view.
instead, they represent aspects of from the ravages of time. Having look newly minted, though. Toki
Hesse’s meditation on the power declared a preference for “work that preserves and transmits, in a per-
of purity, be it in relation to form, has a timeless quality about it, sonal form, language developed
LEFT: BEN BLACKWELL, ALAMEDA, CA, © ESTATE OF EVA HESSE, COURTESY HAUSER & WIRTH / TOP, RIGHT: SCOTT MCCUE, COURTESY A NEW LEAF GALLERY—SCULPTURESITE SONOMA, CA / BOTTOM: COURTESY THE ARTIST AND SILVERMAN GALLERY
color, or content. something that looks as if it could over almost four decades, commu-
—Stephanie Buhmann have been made 500 or even 5,000 nicating the idea of human civiliza-
years ago yet remaining fresh and tion’s dependence on nature,
Sonoma, California alive as if it were created today,” their linked fragility and, we hope,
John Toki Toki constructs earthscapes both indomitability.
A New Leaf Gallery—Sculpturesite ancient and modern. Built up in lay- —Dewitt Cheng
John Toki, a versatile Bay Area sculp- ers or stages atop wooden arma-
tor, teacher, writer, inventor, plumber, tures laid flat on the floor, fired, S a n F r a n c i s co
electrician, and businessman, makes bolted together, and raised upright, Ginger Wolfe-Suarez
monumental structures from slag- the sculptures triumph over gravity, Silverman Gallery
like clay. Collectively called land- just as art, in the old theory, tran- It is tempting to read Ginger Wolfe-
scape abstractions or earthscapes, scends time. The large standing Suarez’s Theory of a family as a type
these freestanding and wall-hung pieces—Blue Wing, Earth Dream, of formal rebus. Inside the space of
works, which feature what can be Rhythms in Blue, and Universal the installation, two large black vol-
interpreted as embedded symbols, Spirit—flare at the top with knobby umes balanced precariously on a
seem as archaeological and anthro- volutes, so that they resemble the ledge above the entrance wall, set
pological as they are geological. ends of desiccated bones, eroded directly over twin plywood boxes
Embracing the medium’s properties temple columns, or simplified emoting a soft pink light. Depending
of mass, weight, and malleability, human torsos. At the center of each on one’s mood or perspective, these
they synthesize the natural and the shaft is a smoother area filled with elements suggested benches, beds,
cultural/historical and perhaps sym- colorful geometric patterns— or coffins. Additional elements
bolize the rise and fall of civiliza- stripes, ribs, hachures, and oblong
tions—a long-dormant theme in ovals—that suggest the maps,
American art, at least since the gameboards, mnemonic devices, and
myth-haunted 1940s with its pseu- magical implements of some lost
do-archaic glyphs. (The subject also culture. The smaller, wall-hung
occupied serious, moralizing 19th- reliefs are less anthropomorphic,
century history painters like Thomas although Pink Blossom Landscape
Cole and Washington Allston: Would and Red Emotions, with their round-
the Republic become the New ed contours and coil-encircled eye-
Jerusalem—or Rome II?) spots, read like embryonic animals
Apocalyptic night-thoughts aside, transformed into stone, like Darwin-
Toki’s works make a case for an inspired sub-humans from Klimt
earthy and earthly reality that sees or Munch inexplicably foreseen by
cultures, however magico-religious, Aztec priests and artists.
as poignant and human. His rivulets San Francisco artists have often
of congealed ochre-brown clay over- explored personal mythologies: the
flowing and enclosing mysterious, archaic crops up in works by Bay
colorful artifacts—charms, fetishes, Area Figuration painters like Nathan
or ritual objects—suggest excava- Oliveira and sculptors like Stephen
tions, time capsules, or fragments De Staebler (a friend and colleague
of fossilized buildings, perhaps of Toki’s) and, humorously, in
churches or museums, that have Clayton Bailey (one of Toki’s college
protected their cultural treasures teachers). Even recurrent ideas can
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
included two small light boxes with tive. Always a little bit off kilter, the
hazy silhouettes, a pair of shoes cast tension in Theory of a family never
in concrete, a large light-box show- achieved equilibrium. This sensation
ing an upside-down landscape, dominated the viewer’s navigation
a two-by-four propped against the of the space and created a haunting
wall (one side covered with glitter), impression—an unresolved work-
a heavy stone, and a mirror. ing-through of memory, both per-
Together, these disparate gestures sonal and art historical, that lingered
offered a sustained meditation on like a retinal after-image when the
the language of Minimalist sculp- lights are turned off.
ture, and one could certainly uncov- — Franklin Melendez
er (if so inclined) echoes of Morris,
Flavin, Irwin, and Smithson, among Wa s h i n gto n , D C a n d
others. Though making these links A r l i n gto n , V i r g i n i a
could be as pleasurable as a child- Mia Feuer
hood exercise connecting images Transformer Gallery and
and their corresponding signifiers, Arlington Arts Center
the historical connections invariably Two recent installations in the Was-
proved insufficient. Wolfe-Suarez’s hington area, Suspended Landscape
interrelated forms are less about at the Transformer Gallery and
reiterating a familiar visual syntax Evacuation Route with Rubies at the
than using it as an unlikely vehicle Arlington Arts Center, showcased
for personal narrative. It is an Mia Feuer’s bold, chaotic work.
uncomfortable fit—and that’s the Forms evoking industry and its per-
point, for this creates gaps and fis- ils hung from ceilings, snaked
sures that ask to be covered over, around floors, and forcefully—yet
worked through, and filled in. whimsically—invaded the personal
A sound piece on headphones did space of visitors, who ducked under
much of this work, looping an almost and circled around the sprawling
confessional monologue recited by pieces. The young artist, a native of
a series of voices. Layering a familial Winnipeg, Canada, spent time in
narrative over the installation, the the Middle East traversing check-
effect was unsettling and overly points between Israel and Palestine
intimate, like eavesdropping on and moved to DC following a resi-
an urgent, private conversation. The dency at the Vermont Studio Center, Top: Mia Feuer, Suspended Landscape, 2010. Styrofoam, enamel paint, and
sound element brought Wolfe- so she knows about obstructions of steel, dimensions variable. Above: Mia Feuer, Evacuation Route with Rubies,
Suarez’s work closer to that of various sorts. She draws inspiration 2010. Styrofoam, paint, FGR, aircraft cable, and automotive brake lights,
Robert Gober and Tom Burr—exca- from the manmade urban environ- dimensions variable.
vating the personal through a sus- ment and its annoyances, including
tained meditation on objecthood, barriers, construction cranes, and scaffold and truss forms cascaded cent orange aircraft cable, a legiti-
weaving an affective history into traffic jams. On first glance, Feuer’s from the high skylight, sinking to mately tough material, held the
questions of process and material. work looks like an intersection only a few feet above the floor. work aloft but also draped around
As with Gober and Burr, Wolfe- of Mark di Suvero’s commanding red Portions of the sculpture resembled it like a child’s jump-rope.
Suarez’s installations are not about steel-beam constructions and Maya chunks of steel cranes, bridges, and In Evacuation Route, bold, red-and-
straightforward autobiography; Lin’s topographical landscape instal- other construction equipment joined blue-painted Styrofoam boards
instead, they use intimate affective lations. Feuer’s innovation lies by a web of plates, nuts, and bolts. formed chunks of a disjointed grid
histories as the foundation for a in her choice of material—because Though seemingly as solid as manu- that hung from the ceiling, caught
sculptural logic. It is a compelling her installations are made of foam, facturing equipment, the painted mid-explosion. Rounded blue pieces,
experiment that results in a won- they can hang from the ceiling, foam chunks were light enough like remnants of a monumental
derfully chiasmic experience: infused their weight and mood lightened in to facilitate gymnastic dangling— ribcage, could have come from a
BOTTOM: RACHEL EISLEY
with affect, her objective forms are equal measure. an effect that only heightened the tunnel, boat, or airplane. Parts of
rendered emotive; while deployed Suspended Landscape filled the artificiality. The textural foam peeked the grid were tiled with flat foam
in public space, her personal memo- small Transformer Gallery with a through gaps in the haphazardly squares—additional tiles were
ries become sculptural and objec- tangle of industrial stalactites— applied red and blue paint; fluores- attached in layers to fall in jumbled
74 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
groupings on the floor, like a deck to disassemble, sort, and shred the
of cards tossed around. Knots variously colored flowers. Music
of flickering and blinking red brake from a Korean singer popular during
lights plugged into a nearby outlet Hur’s childhood could be heard in
also wound across the floor below the background. However, the omi-
the bulk of the sculpture. Inspired nous and repetitive sound of shears
by a traffic jam in a tunnel outside tearing at delicate silk (amplified
DC, Feuer’s orchestrated chaos when performed simultaneously by
avoided direct literalism, yet the multiple people), drowned out the
sense of immersion was palpable, Sinatra-style crooner. Hur draws
as were the frustration and subse- on Freud’s identification of violence
quent yearning for escape that with mourning and melancholy,
cause bored drivers to honk their capturing how the subject attempts
horns, crank their radios, and other- to sever internal traces of the lost
wise vent their anger. Feuer’s place- other and redeem something equiv-
ment of each element forced view- alent to what has been lost. Already
ers to weave their way through this associated with mourning and loss,
dynamic composition. the cemetery flowers become surro-
Both installations sought to invade gates for memories of a Korean
visitors’ comfort zones, reflecting childhood gradually being effaced
Feuer’s concern with the impact of through acculturation in the U.S.
industry on the natural world and Hur refers to her obsessive cutting
on the people it is supposed to of the flowers as an attempted cre-
serve. The primary colors and exu- mation. The resulting colorful “ashes”
berant construction, however, possess a peculiar beauty and
belied any overly sinister message. become material for the re-creation
Drawn to techniques that physically of her memories in a personal, yet
impose, Feuer creates ambiguous public, space.
work: its colorful, ambitious forms —Diana McClintock
are appealing, but it warns of the Gyun Hur, Repose, 2010. Shredded silk flowers, installation view.
daunting confusion of modern N e w Yo r k
urban life. Viewer responses in the recalled her Korean mother’s wed- brush of a foot had the potential to Jeremy Dean
galleries mirrored real-world con- ding quilt. She remembers gazing at destroy hours and hours of pain- {CTS} creative thriftshop
frontations with engineered obstruc- that quilt as a child in Korea, won- staking labor. Without ropes or guard Jeremy Dean’s CEO Stagecoach (2010),
tions, with the difference that Feuer’s dering about the wedding night and rails to prevent viewers from which presents a satirical proposi-
scenarios could dispel unease— the love shared by her parents. In unknowingly disrupting the installation about the future of the auto-
those glimpses of foam felt like a Hur’s memory, she sometimes looks tion, Repose projected an aura of mobile and the planet, is part of
cheeky rejection of the world’s down on the quilt laying across her danger similar to that in Wolfgang “Back to the Futurama,” a project
weightiness. parents’ bed, as if she were flying Laib’s ephemeral pollen sculptures that focuses on the rise and fall of
—Elizabeth Lynch above. For Repose, she had a special or Alice Aycock’s intimidating partic- the automobile industry as a sym-
window cut in the gallery wall so ipatory constructions—delight bol of the vulnerability wrought by
Atl anta that viewers could gaze down on the mixed with thrilling apprehension. turbo-capitalism. Dean draws the
Gyun Hur installation with the eyes of a child The ephemerality alluded to ritual name from two sources: a General
Get This! Gallery and experience something beauti- practices such as Tibetan mandalas Motors-sponsored exhibition at the
Gyun Hur’s installation, Repose, con- ful, mysterious, and unknown. or Navajo sand painting. 1939 New York World’s Fair that
structed a delicate visual space The carefully placed lines of pow- A video accompanying the instal- hailed a futuristic American utopia
engaging the fragility of memory, dery material covered a large rectan- lation revealed the inherent vio- completely transformed by highways
rupture of loss, and violence that gular portion of the floor and the lence that underlies Hur’s process, and suburbs and the mid-1980s
can accompany mourning. Across shelf above. Hur spent several days as well as the sense of community movie Back to the Future, which fea-
COURTESY GET THIS! GALLERY
the floor, and on a transparent meticulously arranging the silk. that makes her work possible. After tures a famously re-engineered,
acrylic shelf lining two walls of the Entering the gallery, visitors were not months of collecting discarded flow- time-traveling DeLorean. Dean simi-
space, Hur carefully arranged color- immediately aware that the stripes ers from cemeteries, family members larly employs a modified SUV to
ful stripes of finely shredded silk were not fixed in any way. The and friends joined Hur night after invite us to look into the past for
cemetery flowers in a pattern that slightest breeze or the accidental night in the basement of her house answers about the present so that
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Left: Jeremy Dean, CEO Stagecoach,

2010. Converted Hummer H2 with
audio and entertainment system,
144 x 96 x 96 in. Below: Meredith
James, See-Through, 2007–10. Sal-
vaged wood and windows, 8 x 7 x
9 ft.
bility of a recycler, using such sim-

ple materials as found windows
we might choose to save the history to horses. Some of those desperate workings of perception—its ability and their casements and diminutive
of the future. folks who converted their old tin to persuade us that observations are cuckoos taken from clocks.
Once a fully functioning, gas-pow- lizzies probably purchased their auto- real when they may, in fact, be any- Two video viewers, constructed
ered Hummer H2, CEO Stagecoach mobiles thanks to America’s first thing but genuine. James’s construc- rather like square megaphones, stood
was converted from an armored incarnation of consumer credit. tions are smart investigations into in the front room of the gallery,
personnel vehicle into a horse-drawn “Back to the Futurama” also fea- the nature of human ingenuity and each showing a different sequence
carriage. The horse-drawn Hummer’s tures small-scale models of modified the interplay between new and tra- of images. Six (2010) lasts 90 sec-
massive steel armature occupies the Hummers. Two of these little ditional ideas about art. A true onds; and Window (2010) lasts an
same formidable frame as its greedy, pimped-out buggies spin around and sculptor, she practices an art that is hour and a half. In Six, we watch
gas-guzzling doppelganger; however, play audio and video on miniature deeply postmodern in its whimsical- a number six train making its way
the absurdist conversion of the interior monitors that Dean rigged ity and ad-hoc exploration of visual through an abandoned subway sta-
energy source alters the vehicle’s from iPod Nanos. The screens repre- depth (although we remember that tion; simple in-camera techniques
essence. If the Hummer emblema- sent the ones mounted in the rear perspective has been, after all, a recast the spatial and temporal
tizes the military-industrial complex of the Hummer H2 DVD Entertain- major concern for Western artists for coordinates of the experience. In
at the core of predatory capitalism, ment System. some 500 years). Even so, her work Window (2010), we see a landscape
then Dean’s vehicle, repossessed from On the project blog <backtothe-
______ is hardly anachronistic or oriented shot from James’s family home in
its original owner and purchased at futurama.blogspot.com>, Dean says
____________ toward the past. She has the sensi- Connecticut; the camera is reflected
auction, morphs from war machine that this work is “about the process
into harmless recession buggy. of…exploring historical amnesia,
TOP: LAURA VORPS, COURTESY {CTS} CREATIVE THRIFTSHOP, NY / BOTTOM: COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MARC JANCOU CONTEMPORARY, NY
Dean’s castration of the Hummer sustainability, consumption, and the
threatens the aggressive masculine future.” He employs historical hind-
entitlement that necessitates it in sight to question progress and the
the first place. Though the Hummer American dream. By deconstructing
was initially designed for the rough a quintessential symbol of American
terrain of combat, most American military might, male aggression,
owners are more likely to deploy and flaunted wealth, and then re-
their eight-mile-per-gallon suburban presenting it as a nostalgic artifact
tanks to raid the local mall. of the future, Dean addresses the
Dean’s aptitude as a filmmaker, social, political, economic, environ-
sculptor, and installation artist is mental, and cultural issues that we
evident in this skillfully dismantled face as a result of our particularly
and re-crafted work, which comes American follies and abuses.
complete with elegant carriage —Karin L. Wolf
seating, stereo and video systems,
smooth lighting, and slick chrome. N e w Yo r k
Illustrating the boom-and-bust cycles Meredith James
of our consumption-based economy, Marc Jancou Contemporary
the reconstructed Hummer mimics Not yet 30, with a 2009 MFA from
the “Hoover carts” created by impov- Yale, Meredith James might be char-
erished automobile owners during acterized as someone whose time
the Great Depression. No longer has come a bit too soon. But the
able to afford gasoline, they cut off truth is otherwise: her work is bril-
the rear ends of their cars, attached liantly effective and wonderfully
tongues, and hitched their vehicles new, emphasizing the unpredictable
76 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
on the window through which we holds an array of objects, including

view evergreens and uninhabited a plastic angel. The more you look,
nature. As constructions combining the more you see. The visual density
actual and artificially derived is puzzling and delightful, as well
imagery, the videos show us a visual as hilarious.
kaleidoscope that emphasizes the Why is that box of matzo lined with
processing of what we see. In anoth- pink feathers? What is that plastic
er group of works, wooden cuckoos fish doing among rubber band balls
open their mouths as if in song; the and an assortment of legumes scat-
silent music results from a moving tered on the rug? Of course, there
metronome strung to their beaks. are no answers, only questions, and
Striking in their simplicity, these the ongoing pleasure of looking. This
constructions are interesting for is Solomon’s first installation (she
their introduction of movement is known primarily as a painter and
into sculpture. occasional performance artist), but
Consistently focused on how mate- surely it will not be the last.
rials contribute to perception, James —Harriet F. Senie
makes art that challenges our think-
ing. One of the most engaging pieces C i n c i n n at i
in the show was the construction Alice Pixley Young
made of salvaged windows and wood. Weston Art Gallery
See-Through’s complicated, rotating Shape rules in Alice Pixley Young’s
structure occupied a space defined work. She is also interested in color,
by two specially constructed, con- atmosphere, and multi-disciplinary
joined walls with two windows. The Elke Solomon, A Tavola, 2006. Mixed media, dimensions variable. approaches, but her exhibition
windows allowed viewers to see “Nightfall” kept viewers attuned to
through to the space that housed the us to excess. Fittingly, Elke Solomon these unlikely and mesmerizing light seeing what she would do next with
work’s elements, giving a real sense cooks and spends her summers sources work. Just trying to identify her inventive use of recurrent shapes.
of being inside and outside and the in Italy, where she recently re-read the materials makes for a com- A couple of temporary walls divided
working relation between the Proust. Her “madeleine,” however, pelling guessing game, but engaging the show into three distinct installa-
two. Like much of James’s work, See- is a compacted art historical/pop the shadows turns the fun into tions. Young staked out the entryway,
Through offered a droll take on how culture cache. Closing the gap something more insubstantial and physically the largest space, with
we perceive three-dimensional between art and life with wit and much darker. Thus a jumble of looped individual but connected works on
space, its insights changing dramat- humor, her visual language appears and tangled tiny black beads takes each wall. This section benefited
ically from the window of one wall so accessible that it may momen- on a ghostly presence as it appears from being “read” from left to right.
to the next. Eschewing gimmicks for tarily divert you from its layered com- to dematerialize the very wall on Cloud Wall gave the surprise of
imagistic integrity, James makes plexity and sophistication. which it hangs. black tar-paper clouds stitched in red,
sure that her projects exercise the Peering into the cluttered kitchen At its most basic level, eating both the thread running on to string deli-
viewer’s intelligence, no matter of Solomon’s installation, one sees is and stands for consumption— cate rice paper lanterns dangling
how seemingly simple her concept piles of cookbooks and magazines, essential to sustain life but easily across the space. Their straight-lined
or materials. both shelved and on the floor. Colan- abused. A Tavola celebrates and shapes contrasted with the cloud
—Jonathan Goodman ders and the like are heaped high, cautions against the excess. A plastic curves, both set off by paper cutouts
while plastic containers are so over- tablecloth hangs to the side, its floral in red and black that recalled
N e w Yo r k filled that their contents spill over. design on a white, almost generic snowflakes or, perhaps, the products
Elke Solomon The tabletop is covered with clusters pattern marked with apparent wine of a child’s scissors game. Directly
A.I.R. Gallery of objects that suggest a recipe stains. The quotidian traces of a ahead, a swoop of burnished steel
A Tavola is a command and a call to in progress or a hastily eaten snack, recent gathering are visual counter- birds, each a little larger than a
arms, summoning us to the table a kind of contemporary memento parts to fading memories. man’s hand, formed Migration. The
and the concomitant onslaught of mori complete with marshmallow Everywhere you look in this rich birds, mounted to stand out from the
memory—personal, emotional, Easter chicks. installation, there are layers of two- wall, were set off by their shadows.
social, communal, graphic, and vis- By contrast, the chandeliers or wall and three-dimensional images and Young has said that her interest in
ceral—prompted by food. As it calls sconces, composed of all matter of objects. A window frames and divides Japanese fabric design springs from
JEANETTE MAY
us to the table, it also warns us found objects and thrift-store specials, the iconic image of Grant Wood’s the early influence of her mother’s
of the abundance awaiting to seduce look strangely elegant. Amazingly, American Gothic, while the sill below quilt-making. In Hexagon Wall, the
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Left: Alice Pixley Young, Nightfall,

2009. Mixed media, dimensions
variable. Below: Gino De Dominicis,
Cosmic Magnet, 1986. Mixed media,
7 x 24 meters.
before it bounces) (1968–69) bril-

liantly represents movement and
stillness, demonstrating the strong
centrality in De Dominicis’s work—
a motionless universe where time
familiar six-sided shape played in two ring. Reading into works of this sort MAXXI’s opening exhibition was and space are ephemeral, variable
dimensions up and down the wall is personal to every viewer. When “Gino De Dominicis—the Immortal” options. In this world, stillness is
before spilling over into two floor an artist’s visual dexterity is in high curated by Achille Bonito Oliva. synonymous with immortality. In Il
sculptures, escapees from flat space. gear, like Young’s, the pleasure is De Dominicis used diverse materials tempo, lo sbaglio, lo spazio (Time,
Light-blue backgrounds began pale vastly increased. and forms, including installation, mistake, space) (1969), a human
behind the clouds, strengthened —Jane Durrell sculpture, photography, painting, skeleton on roller skates lying beside
against the birds, and grew strongest and video, to investigate space, an upright staff and a dog skeleton
against the hexagons. Hexagons Rome immortality, reality, religion, and offers an ironic meditation on
appeared again in a happy flurry of Gino De Dominicis ancient civilizations in a very per- human existence and our incapacity
painted birch wood tiles set against a MAXXI sonal and ironic way. With 138 to defeat death. Auronia D.D. uscita
narrow wall extension. The entryway MAXXI, Italy’s National Museum of works, the exhibition followed the dal parallelopipedo di vetro,
section ended with four small framed XXI Century Arts, opened last spring. artist’s entire poetic journey, begin- volteggia invisibile nella bacheca!
paintings, shadowy renditions of the Despite the name, the collection is ning with Cosmic Magnet—a 24- (Auronia D.D. once out from the glass
hexagons and the paper cutouts, set dominated thus far by art from the meter-long skeleton with a parallelepiped whirls invisible in the
off by slender stripes of silver tape second half of the 20th century, Pinocchio-nosed skull, wielding showcase) (1997) consists of a glass
that cast a bright shadow on the though the museum has commis- a seven-meter-long golden staff: a parallelepiped containing a second
recessed frames. sioned several new works, including dramatic introduction to Mochetti’s parallelepiped. This Minimalist work
The two enclosed installations, Maurizio Mochetti’s site-specific fantastic imaginary world. with a female protagonist is charged
together titled Nightfall, delved into Rette di luce nell’iperspazio curvilineo Mozzarella in carrozza (1968–70) with a sense of immortality,
storytelling, but the individual ele- (Light lines through curvilinear hyper- plays with a literal interpretation approaching the traditional regard
ments were the compelling draw. In space). For Mochetti, art is a physical of a Neapolitan recipe by placing a for women’s child-bearing capacity
the first room, we found ourselves and mental experience with the mozzarella cheese inside an 18th- (and hence defiance of death) from
out of doors, at night, in a forest with potential to change our comprehen- century coach. The nonsensical a new angle. Equilibrium 1 (1967) is
Astroturf hummocks and antique sion of the world. In the idiosyncratic name gives way to a poetical, if tau- a staff standing on its point. Made
lanterns, the whole illuminated by and distracting black and white archi- tological, image that alternates of brass, iron, and a magnet, this
blue/red bulbs. Hanging tree silhou- tecture of MAXXI’s hall, he installed between reality and imagination. perfect form represents absolute
ettes, laser-cut from industrial felt four red-painted “tubes” containing Palla di gomma—caduta da 2 equilibrium, a nearly impossible state
BOTTOM: SIMONE CECCHETTI, COURTESY FONDAZIONE CASSA DI RISPARMIO DI FOLIGNO
and moving gently in the air, a complex light-projection apparatus metri—nell’attimo immediatamente to reach and maintain.
were marvelously evocative and that throws a mutable band of red prima del rimbalzo (Rubber ball— A second show presented 70 works
quite beautiful. light onto the surrounding walls. fallen from 2 meters—the moment from the collection (art of the last 60
The second room was smaller,
deliberately cramped, and dark,
defining a space more in the mind
than in fact. A narrow bed tilted
upright, an antique quilt among its
jumbled covers. Paper birds, of the
same shape and size as the steel
ones, floated against a wall; books,
furniture, and dried flowers were
scattered left and right. The most
striking thing was an illuminated,
open drawer, its surface covered with
intricate lines like thoughts recur-
78 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
Left: Gino De Dominicis, Il tempo, lo shame is being questioned today.

sbaglio, lo spazio, 1969. Mixed media, Who and what defines what is
400 x 220 x 170 cm. Below: Kishore shameful or not? What is sacred,
Chakraborty, Chest, 2009. Wooden and what is profane?
box, silver foil, hay, cloth, resin, and Another intriguing work, Chest,
mixed media, dimensions variable. depicts a gigantic black-clawed crab
crawling out of a treasure chest that
enacted in the nine-day Durga Puja emanates an eerie red glow. Is the
festival in his sculptural process, his crab the treasure? Or has it already
themes are not religious and godly; devoured the contents? The surface
instead, he addresses dark reminders of the chest is covered with tiny
of the rot in human life and society. translucent crabs, each with the terri-
Jeev, a large floor-to-ceiling installa- fying potential to be as big and
tion of gigantic pierced red tongues threatening as the big black one. For
strung together like keys on a key- Chakraborty, the use of multiple
chain, held center stage at the crabs in a single work brings home
gallery. Crawling red crabs symbolize the fact that we are now accustomed
the “cancer of terror” that has over- to living with terror in our midst.
taken our lives. The tongues terrorize Other works in the show included
by speaking lies and spreading large-scale, hand-colored prints
untruths. A tongue hanging out of of black and white photographs, all
the mouth is also a sign of shame in from Chakraborty’s native Kolkata,
India—the terrifying goddess Kali, and a video installation based on
years) together with works on loan. ed” life and times of new-millennium who is always depicted with a blood- experiences with hard-hearted land-
The collection includes works by India. The title of the show refers to red tongue, was shamed out of her lords in Delhi. These works were
Luciano Fabro, Lucio Fontana, Mario the Indian constitution and our oft- spree of death and destruction when interesting but lacked the strength
Merz, Giuseppe Penone, Giovanni highlighted status of being the her husband, Lord Shiva, threw him- and integrity of vision embodied in
Anselmo, Giulio Paolini, and many world’s largest democracy. In Chak- self under her feet; shocked, she the three-dimensional works. Taken
other Italians, in addition to Anish raborty’s words, “This body of work stuck out her tongue. Chakraborty’s together, Chakraborty’s works
Kapoor, Kiki Smith, Yinka Shonibare, is constructed around the theme of engagement with a sense of shame provide no easy answers, seeking
and other well-known, international mental terrorism. Fear of crime, cor- carries forward from his previous solo instead to provoke viewers out of
names. Younger artists were repre- ruption, political abuse, social ills, show, “Lajja—Relevant Irrelevant.” In their apathy.
sented by Iran Do Espirito Santo and and living like a parasite—in total, Jeev, he notes that the very notion of —Minhazz Majumdar
Pedro Cabrito Reis, among others. In the making of an environment of
this introduction, MAXXI’s director, fear—mentally or physically.”
Anna Mattirolo, and her team Chakraborty trained as a sculptor
of curators found the right balance at Rabindra Bharati University. His
between postwar and more contem- installations stand apart in their use
porary art. of unconventional materials such as
—Laura Tansini straw, jute rope, cheap cotton lining,
and crochet thread—all very humble
New Delhi and low-cost materials, far removed
Kishore Chakraborty from the expensive metals typically
Gallery Threshold used in Indian sculpture. Under
After a gap of five years, Kishore Chakraborty‘s skillful manipulations,
Chakraborty has returned with “We these lowly materials are catalyzed
the People,” a solo show featuring into powerful statements against cor-
a few stark but strangely powerful ruption, terrorism, and greed. Their
TOP: COURTESY FONDAZIONE MAXXI
sculptures. Employing a limited but use was inspired by his childhood

dramatic palette of red and black memories of traditional artisans mak-
and an equally economical but ing the idol of the much-loved god-
intriguing range of motifs (the crab, dess Durga every winter, using straw,
the tongue), these works present jute, and clay. Although Chakraborty
Chakraborty’s take on the “corrupt- seeks the transformative magic
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
isc P E O P L E , P L AC E S , A N D E V E N T S
THE ISC CELEBRATES ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
4
1 2 3 5
bk
6 7 8 9
bm
bl
bn bo bp bq br
1 Verina Baxter, Sam Turner, and Chakaia Booker. 2 True and Talley Fisher with Marlene Sanders and Pamela Henry. 3 Leslie Michael and Barbara
MacAdam (ARTNews) with Bill and Anne FitzGibbons. 4 Hall Powell, Justin Peyser, and Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz. 5 Aaron Pollock and Mickey Smith. 6
Martha Haude and Seward Johnson. 7 Peter and Adriana Hobart, Michelle Hobart, and Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz. 8 Peter Murray. 9 Catherine and Josh
Kanter. bk ISC Executive Director Johannah Hutchison with Marc and Kathy LeBaron. bl Party guest. bm Tom and Leslie Freudenheim. bn Kim Tefft, ISC
Founder Elden Tefft, and Hank Lautz. bo Bruce Beasley, Kenneth Snelson, Carlos Setien, and John P. Stern. bp Sassona Norton and Dr. Ron Filler. bq John
Henry and Patricia Meadows. br Richard and Lauren Dupont.
Thank you to everyone who attended the International Sculpture Rat’s Restaurant at Grounds For Sculpture, Top of the Rock, Boaz
Center’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in New York City on Vaadia, and Windy City, Inc. Their support was an important ingre-
October 22nd. More than 250 ISC members, artists, and patrons dient in making this event a success. And an extra special thanks
of the arts attended this sold-out birthday party. The evening not to ISC Founder Elden Tefft and his son Kim for making the journey
only helped to celebrate ISC achievements over the past 50 years, to New York City from Kansas to join us for the commemorative
but also raised funds to benefit our programs with a raffle, Chinese evening.
auction, and live art sale. We would also like to thank all of the artists who donated work
Special thanks to our honorary hosts Mark di Suvero, Joyce to the ISC collection, which was on display at the celebration;
ESCARPETA PHOTO/GRAPHICS INC.
Pomeroy Schwartz, and Kenneth Snelson, as well as to our many pieces were sold that night. All proceeds from the art sale
evening’s speaker, Peter Murray, and event sponsors Karen and will go toward ISC services and programs in the coming year. If you
Robert Duncan, Johnson Art & Education Foundation, and Adriana were not able to attend, visit our Web site <www.sculpture.org> to
and Peter Hobart. Additional thanks goes to the auction and raffle see the works still available for sale or to give a birthday donation.
sponsors Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, Digital Atelier, Carole We thank everyone in the sculpture community for your
Feuerman, Grounds For Sculpture, The Keith Haring Foundation, continued support, and here’s to another 50 years.
Vol. 30, No. 1 © 2011. Sculpture (ISSN 0889-728X) is published monthly, except February and August, by the International Sculpture Center. Editorial office: 1633 Connecticut Ave. NW, 4th floor, Washington, DC
20009. ISC Membership and Subscription office: 19 Fairgrounds Rd., Suite B, Hamilton, NJ 08619, U.S.A. Tel. 609.689.1051. Fax 609.689.1061. E-mail <isc@sculpture.org>.
_______ Annual membership dues are US $100;
subscription only, US $55. (For subscriptions or memberships outside the U.S., Canada, and Mexico add US $20, includes airmail delivery.) Permission is required for any reproduction. Sculpture is not responsi-
ble for unsolicited material. Please send an SASE with material requiring return. Opinions expressed and validity of information herein are the responsibility of the author, not the ISC. Advertising in Sculpture
is not an indication of endorsement by the ISC, and the ISC disclaims liability for any claims made by advertisers and for images reproduced by advertisers. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC, and addi-
tional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send change of address to International Sculpture Center, 19 Fairgrounds Rd., Suite B, Hamilton, NJ 08619, U.S.A. U.S. newsstand distribution by CMG, Inc., 250 W. 55th
Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Tel. 866.473.4800. Fax 858.677.3235.
80 Sculpture 30.1
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
________________
______________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F
_______________________________
__________________________
sculpture
A
BEMaGS
F

Sculpture - Jan. 2011

Încărcat de

Informații document

Descriere originală:

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Sculpture - Jan. 2011

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page

sculpture January/February 2011

From the Chairman ISC Board of Directors

sculpture January/February 2011

Sculpture January/February 2011 5

Each issue of Sculpture is indexed in The Art Index and

Major Donors ($50,000+) Chairman’s Circle ($10,000–49,999)

Director’s Circle ($5,000–9,999)

About the ISC Sculpture Magazine

This program is made possible in

Patron’s Circle ($2,500–4,999)

Friend’s Circle ($1,000–2,499)

Professional Circle ($350–999)

Sculpture January/February 2011 7

Sculpture January/February 2011 15

Left: Alberto Giacometti, La Cage,

becomes united with the power of

Sculpture January/February 2011 17

Left: Thomas Houseago, Cyclops No.

dity and death. This retrospective,

Metropolitan Museum of Art

<www.mori.art.museum> that combines ancient history and

Sculpture January/February 2011 19

Left: Nam June Paik, Zen for TV.

Stiller, and Jason Villega are installed

Suh calls the project “a continuation of my

Sculpture January/February 2011 23

Many of the sculptures employ an unusual form of optical

Sculpture January/February 2011 25

They developed a close working relationship, often commenting

an introduction from a mutual friend, a warehouse owner gave

Guerra explains. Texture, pattern, sheen—even how light plays

Rich and lush, the sculptures and environments are wonders to

Sculpture January/February 2011 27

COURTESY GUERRA DE LA PAZ

Above: Monday–Friday, 2005–09. Cable, neckties, custom aluminum

draped in her lap, a pose copied from Michelangelo’s

ing a chilling reminder of the role that we play in

Rebecca Dimling Cochran is a writer and curator living

Sculpture January/February 2011 29

A Poet and His Muses

When the staff at the J. Paul Getty Museum invited Jim

Sculpture January/February 2011 31

Sculpture January/February 2011 33

walls with charcoal using our hands and wrote the

The Crying Sand, 2006. Enamel on wood, 82.5 x 26.5 x 22 in.

CC: Who owns the work?

works are associated with an über-cultural, high-brow arena.

Sculpture January/February 2011 35

This page: Motion in Paralysis (Left—

Sculpture January/February 2011 37

Gupta also uses the frog as a potent

Sculpture January/February 2011 39

University in Lexington, Virginia, as a philosophy major in 1969. He still

Sculpture January/February 2011 41

Above: Chorus (Martin, Kaitlin, Jane, Sinking Feeling), 2008.

Sculpture January/February 2011 43

Above: Committee (Tom, Stu, Jane, John, Lisa),

been instructive. William Kentridge’s nar-

anything and photograph reference shots March 27).

Sculpture January/February 2011 45

Mother and Child, 2008. Steel, 5 x 5 x 7 ft.

Adam Walls’s intimate engagement with steel links