STEVEN ALEXANDER J O U R N A L: Sculpture

Showing posts with label Sculpture. Show all posts

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.

Richard Nonas, installation view

Richard Nonas, Untitled, 2014, 33 x 16 x 4.5 inches, steel

Richard Nonas, Untitled, 1990, 9 x 5.5 x 8.5 inches, steel

Richard Nonas, Untitled, 1992, 7.5 x 30.25 inches, steel

Richard Nonas, Untitled, 1985, 10.5 x 12.25 x5.25 inches, steel

Richard Nonas, Untitled, 2009, 24 x 17 x 7.5 inches, wood

Richard Nonas, Untitled (First Series), 2014, 7 x 4 x 4 inches, steel

Richard Nonas, installation view

Richard Nonas, Hack, 1970, 42 x 41.5 x 9.5 inches, steel

Richard Nonas, Steel Drawing, 5 Plates: One Red, One Yellow, 1988, 71.5 x 123 x .75 inches, oil paint on steel

Richard Nonas, Untitled, 1975/2014, 80 x 64 inches, oil stick on paper

Richard Nonas, Untitled, 1970, 44.5 x 56 inches, carpenter's glue on butcher paper

9.10.10

DAN FLAVIN at Paula Cooper

Dan Flavin, Untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard), 1972-75, 8ft x 8ft installed in corridor, yellow & pink flourescent light fixtures

Dan Flavin, Untitled, 1969, 96 x 24 inches, yellow & pink flourescent light fixtures

An exhibition of four works by Dan Flavin at Paula Cooper (through October 30) presents a fairly rare opportunity to glimpse the genius of Flavin's contribution. Each of the four pieces, made of pink and yellow flourescent fixtures, offers a simple iconic configuration that activates the space with maximum color intensity. The most elaborate work in the show is the 8ft square "barred corridor" piece, in which a grid of pink lights faces one direction, backed by yellow lights facing the other direction, built into a long corridor. From one end of the corridor, the space is bathed in yellow, with a sort of afterglow of pink in the spaces of the grid. From the other side, the space is pink with yellow undertones. Such direct and elegant formal solutions, yielding spatial experiences of extreme sensuality, set Flavin's best work apart from the dry austerity that characterizes much of the work of his compadres.

4.5.10

RACHEL HAYES

Rachel Hayes, Choo Fence, Monticello, NY

Rachel Hayes, Duality of Light Without Violence, 2008

Rachel Hayes, Rainbow Quarry, Colorado Springs

If you can imagine a body of work that is the offspring of Robert Irwin and Alan Shields (remember him?), it might look something like the work of Rachel Hayes. Using translucent colored fabric, she activates spaces and sites with layered saturated color and light, and sensuous handmade tactility. Her deep sensitivity to the inherent sociological and psychologocal resonance of materials and processes imbues her work with a primal congruence that can transform our sense of place and self. Images from the artist's website.

27.11.09

LYNDA BENGLIS at Cheim & Read

Lynda Benglis, installation with (left) D'Arrest, 2009, 47 1/4 x 45 3/4 x 22 3/4 inches, tinted polyurethane, and (right) Swineburne Egg I, 2009, 41 x 28 x 15 inches, tinted polyurethane

Lynda Benglis is showing a potent new group of objects at Cheim & Read through January 2, 2010. The show consists of two types of configuration, the gestural figure and the contained orb. The figural works are large open craggy black fragments in cast bronze, each of which has a unique relation to the figure in motion. Of course there is no literal reference, but the objects read as quick sketches of fleeting gestures, rendered in bronze and hanging on the wall. The other works are made of tinted polyurethane, and all but one is in the form of an oval or sphere with undulating surfaces. For me, the most engaging pieces were a glowing translucent orange orb and an equally alive pink egg shape that hang on adjacent walls in the back room. Both of these pieces glow with an inner light, and possess a mysterious weightless materiality that seems like a new sensation for Benglis. Both the orbs and the figural works continue Benglis' exploration of a nebulous area between painting and sculpture, where the human body and human consciousness merge with the distinct physical properties of materials and processes. It is curious that in every press release or article, we still read about Benglis' 1974 Artforum ad as a sort of defining moment -- which as her career goes I suppose it was. But Lynda Benglis has for the past 35 years, been consistently making some of the most powerfully sensuous objects out there -- at once decorative and raw, delicate and muscular, etherial and utterly physical.

Lynda Benglis, Toltec, 2009, 47 x 46 x 23 inches, tinted polyurethane

Lynda Benglis, Swineburne Figure I, 2009, 65 x 30 x 21 inches, tinted polyurethane

Lynda Benglis, Figure 4, 2009, 98 1/2 x 66 1/2 x 25, bronze , black patena

22.9.09

MAYA LIN at PaceWildenstein

Maya Lin, 2x4 Landscape, 2006, 10' x 53'4" x 35', wood

In her first exhibition at PaceWildenstein in their 22nd Street space (through October 24), Maya Lin continues to give us expansive works of elegance and eloquence. The show consists of three pieces, each made of one material -- aluminum wire, plywood, 2x4s -- and constructed with disarming directness. All three works are manifestations of Lin's experience of landscape, both analytical and intuitive. By far the most impressive piece is "2x4 Landscape", in which she has placed more than 50,000 2x4s of varying lengths on end to form an undulating indoor landscape that rises to a 10' high hill. The piece is perfectly situated in the space with a pathway around the perimeter, and has a physical presence that is both astounding and delightful. This is pure sculpture -- the artist engaged in a deep dialogue with the physical world, enlarging and elaborating her experience with visual poetry of the highest refinement.

26.5.09

Ranking Reverb #1:
MARTIN, MARDEN, PALERMO, TRUITT

When I was a kid, my brother and I used to speculate endlessly about what combination of great musicians would comprise the ultimate dream band. In that spirit, and just for fun, Ranking Reverb is conceived as an occasional series of online exhibitions -- dream shows if you will. So here is the first -- a group of Ranking artists who pioneered primary structures while exploring the nuances of materiality and color.

To quote Louise Fishman, "Agnes Martin is the Buddha". Her paintings are the visual equivalent of breath -- the weave of the canvas, dry pencil line, light wash of translucent color -- silent, still, inclusive -- nothing and everything. They convey an expansive stasis, an ineffable wholeness in the humble and patient frankness of her process.

Brice Marden's early monochromes and color panel paintings were at once conceptually rigorous and deeply sensual. His heavily worked oil and beeswax surfaces were inhabited by rich hybrid or fugitive colors arrived at through a process that was steeped in tradition and buzzing with intelligent intuition. As his configurations became more complex, his color became more adventurous, and impeccably refined -- and always surprising.
In the late 60s, Blinky Palermo arrived at an exquisite integration of color and material with his fabric paintings -- not really paintings, but colored fabric mounted on stretchers. He would continue to develop these concerns, exploring the inherent properties of various materials, shapes and colors, evolving into his last and most important work, To the People of New York City, which was shown at Heiner Friedrich in NY just after the artist's death in 1977. It was a concise group of paintings on aluminum panels with simple paired combinations of red, yellow and black, now permanently installed at Dia Beacon. In it's original setting at the Friedrich Gallery, the installation was a highly charged arrangement of stark and beautiful relations that revealed the mysterious associative power of color and material in an entirely new way.

Anne Truitt was a singular, and often overlooked figure in the world of sculpture, making works that I consider to be 3-dimensional paintings. Though certainly sculptural in their declarative presence, her elemental configurations employ a beautiful integration of color and shape as a source of archetypal resonance.

Ranking Reverb #1

Agnes Martin, The Sea, 2003, 60" x 60", acrylic & graphite on canvas

Agnes Martin, Gratitude, 2001, 60" x 60", acrylic & graphite on canvas

Agnes Martin, Untitled #21, 1988, 60" x 60", acrylic & graphite on canvas

Brice Marden, The Dylan Painting, 1966, 60" x 120", oil & beeswax on canvas

Brice Marden, Grove Group IV, 1976, 72" x 108", Two panels, oil & beeswax on canvas

Brice Marden, Elements V, 1982, 84" x 51", Four panels, oil on canvas

Brice Marden, Thira, 1979-80, 96" x 180", 18 panels, oil & beeswax on canvas

Blinky Palermo, Stoffbild, 1969, 200cm x 200cm, cotton fabric over stretcher

Anne Truitt, Catawba, 1962, 42" x 60" x 11", acrylic on wood

Anne Truitt, Watauga, 1962, 46" x 56" x 7", acrylic on wood

Anne Truitt, Twining Court, 2001, 70 1/4" x 8" x 8", acrylic on wood

"We hope you have enjoyed the show!"

20.2.09

PIERO MANZONI at Gagosian

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1957, kaolin on canvas

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1958-59, 31 1/2 x 39 3/8 inches, creased canvas & kaolin

In the past few years, the Gagosian Gallery has mounted numerous museum quality exhibitions that bring together rarely seen important works by important artists. Through March 21, the 24th Street gallery features a remarkable retrospective of the work of Piero Manzoni, the young Italian artist who, in his short life during the late 50s and early 60s, created a rich body of radical work. Curated by Germano Celant, the leading authority on Manzoni, this extensive and beautifully installed survey is a revelation for anyone who knows Manzoni primarily for his Merda d'Artista (little cans of artist's shit, sold by weight according to the current price of gold), and a once in a lifetime treat for anyone who has only seen rare glimpses of Manzoni's work. I have often regarded Manzoni as an Italian counterpart to Yves Klein, and in many respects this show affirms that assessment. But I think Manzoni's work ends up being somewhat broader in scope, and having a better sense of humor. From his 1957 introduction of the Achromes -- beautiful raw plaster colored physical surfaces made of kaolin soaked canvas -- Manzoni's range rapidly expanded through the remaining six years of his life.

The Achromes evolved wonderfully into eccentric objects made of a variety of sensuous materials, and his flair for dramatic gestures led to eloquent and inclusive sculptural proposals, including his Base of the World -- a huge steel pedestal, installed upside down in the landscape, rendering the whole earth as a sculptural object. It's easy to dismiss such projects as mere grandstanding, but we see in this show that these gestures were grounded in Manzoni's attempt to embrace a conception of art as a playground of ideas and questions about the nature of perception and reality.

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1962, 15 3/8 x 15 3/8 inches, Kaolin & bread rolls

Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1961-62, 24 3/16 x 18 1/8 inches, artificial fiber

18.1.09

CORDY RYMAN and RICHARD TUTTLE:
Exalted Ephemera

Cordy Ryman, Yellow Spine, 2008, 144 x 3 x 8 inches, mixed media on wood

Just opened at DCKT Contemporary is a new show by Cordy Ryman, whose work I've followed and enjoyed for a while. Although it seems obvious to consider his work in relation to the legacy of his illustrious parents (Robert Ryman and Merrill Wagner), I feel he has a much more direct affinity with the aesthetic of another member of his parents' generation, Richard Tuttle. In fact seeing Ryman's work has always brought to mind the importance of Tuttle's contribution -- its singularity, and it's eccentricity. What the two artists share is a preference for cruddy materials, offhanded construction, consideration and activation of the whole space, and an interest in the poetry and universal resonances of the most minuscule moments.

Richard Tuttle, 3rd Rope Piece, 1974, 1/2 x 3 x 1/2 inches, cotton & nails
This is actually a Detail, as the whole piece consisted of the piece of rope attached about 3 feet high on a huge expanse of white wall.

This aesthetic ground was boldly articulated in 1975 by Richard Tuttle in his infamous Whitney exhibition that cost Marcia Tucker her curatorial job. It was, and still is, one of the most radical museum shows I've ever seen -- pushing the envelope of ephemerality to the edge of nothingness. I remember Marcia Tucker saying that Tuttle showed up to install this sprawling exhibition with the whole show contained in his shoulder bag. It was a thrilling experience to see the cavernous spaces of the Whitney activated by Tuttle's near-invisible poetic interventions. The show was like a koan, presented by a highly accomplished Zen monk with a wry sense of humor. In later years, Tuttle has continued to explore a kind of enchantment with the most basic elements of formal relations and materials, making funky little constructions out of plywood and found stuff, minimally manipulated into magically charged configurations. It is mostly with this later work that Cordy Ryman's affinities seem to be evident. Like Tuttle, Cordy is committed to "modest" materials -- stuff that might come out of most artists' trash bin -- and a sort of stream of consciousness compositional method -- essentially improvisational, and in some ways a bit less precious and deliberate than Tuttle.

Cordy Ryman, Stitched Block, 2008, 8 x 7 x 3 inches, acrylic & enamel on wood

Cordy Ryman, V5, 2008, 23 x 11 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches, acrylic, enamel & velcro on wood

Richard Tuttle, New Mexico, New York, D, #9, 1998, 30 1/4 x 21 3/8 inches, acrylic on plywood

Richard Tuttle, Section 1, Extension 0, 2007, 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 x 4 3/8 inches, mixed media

Underlying both Ryman's and Tuttle's approaches we find a highly sensitized awareness of the nuances of formal relations and of the physical properties of materials (Tuttle's grounding in Minimalism, and Ryman's inheritance from his parents) -- and an ability to call our attention to the larger implications inherent in the fundamental relations among the smallest aspects of common things.