STEVEN ALEXANDER J O U R N A L: RICHARD NONAS at Fergus McCaffrey, NY

12.10.14

RICHARD NONAS at Fergus McCaffrey, NY

Richard Nonas, installation view

There is a rare and welcome opportunity to see the work of Richard Nonas at Fergus McCaffrey through October 25, 2014. This exquisite show includes a vast array of works from 1970 to the present. Nonas regards sculpture as inseparable from space, so although each piece operates independently, they are installed to orchestrate our experience of the whole. The space that surrounds the piece is as important as the piece itself, and the activation of the space by the placement of the various works and their interactions becomes a prime source of resonance. The pieces might be regarded as simple arrangements of basic geometric volumes -- but that would be ignoring what is unique and magical about this work, and what separates Nonas from some of his peers like Andre and LeWitt. Coming from a background as a social anthropologist, Nonas is attuned to the potential energies of specific materials and configurations as generators of meaning, as evocations of feeling. In this regard he actually has more in common with Beuys than Andre. Each object or arrangement contains a sort of trigger -- some little "glitch" that opens a door beyond the formal, to a timeless well of human history and consciousness. This powerful installation creates a charged space that pulls us into its archetypal matrix, and puts us in touch with our fundamental humanity.