sculpture magazine jan-feb 2012

8/10/2019 Sculpture magazine Jan-Feb 2012

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sculpture

January/February 2012Vol. 31 No. 1

A publication of theInternational Sculpture Centerwww.sculpture.org

Elizabeth Turk

Ays̨e Erkmen

Allan Wexler

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The end of the year for a nonprofit board, as for many of us, involves

close scrutiny of the year past: What were our successes and where dowe need to focus our renewed attention? The new year also brings

cheerful anticipation for the events ahead, and for the ISC, there are

many reasons for excitement. Thanks to the foundation that we laid in

2011 (including the launch of ISConnects, a brand-new approach to the

Outstanding Educator Award, a new type of Sculpture article on

, and plans for the 23rd International Sculpture

Conference), the sculpture community is poised for greatness in 2012.

Early in 2012, the ISC will present philanthropist Olga Hirshhorn with the

Outstanding Patron Award. This event, to be held at the Naples Art

Museum, will be a personal tribute to the generosity that Hirshhorn has

shown to countless sculptors and friends of the arts. It is also the first

Patron Award since 2008, when the ISC honored Fred and Lena Meijer, of

the Meijer Foundation, for their contributions to sculpture and society.

We are constantly adding to the list of events in the new ISConnects

program. Since each event in the series varies (in subject, partnering

organization, and attendees), make sure to stay up to date on the lat-

est collaborations and topics. This year, we hope to post the events on-

line so you can follow each discussion on .

The 2012 recipients of the Outstanding Educator Award will also be

announced soon, after being narrowed down from an extensive pool of

educators nominated by ISC members, Sculpture readers, and the pub-

lic. The chosen educators will be honored by the ISC in partnership

with each educator’s school. The Lifetime Achievement Award gives us

another opportunity to celebrate greatness in the field. Each Lifetime

Achievement awardee receives a feature article in Sculpture, where

readers learn more about why the ISC recognizes select individuals as

“masters of sculptural processes and techniques.”

October is an exciting time for the ISC, when upcoming student

artists, winners of the Outstanding Student Achievement in

Contemporary Sculpture, are published in a feature article in Sculpture.

The traveling Student Awards exhibition is always entertaining, and

always unique. This year, the ISC will ship works that include packing

peanuts (a work by Dustin Boise), a 900-pound head (by David Platter),

and a plastic cup (part of Derek Bourcier’s piece).

The 23rd International Sculpture Conference is also held in October.

For those who want to explore partnerships and panels, it is not too

early to plan for “Process, Patron, and Public,” which will be held inChicago on October 4, 5, and 6, 2012.

The ISC has many other activities planned for the new year, all

focused on providing enhanced services for the growing sculpture com-

munity. On behalf of the staff and Board of the ISC, best wishes for a

great and fun-filled year.

—Marc LeBaron

Chairman, ISC Board of Trustees

From the Chairman

4 Sculpture 31.1

ISC Board of Trustees

Chairman: Marc LeBaron, Lincoln, NE

Chakaia Booker, New York, NYRobert Edwards, Naples, FL

Bill FitzGibbons, San Antonio, TX

Ralfonso Gschwend, Switzerland

David Handley, Australia

Paul Hubbard, Philadelphia, PA

Ree Kaneko, Omaha, NE

Josh Kanter, Salt Lake City, UT

Gertrud Kohler-Aeschlimann, Switzerland

Creighton Michael, Mt. Kisco, NY

Prescott Muir, Salt Lake City, UT

George W. Neubert, Brownville, NE

F. Douglass Schatz, Potsdam, NY

Walter Schatz, Nashville, TN

Steinunn Thorarinsdottir, Iceland

Boaz Vaadia, New York, NY

Philipp von Matt, Germany

Chairmen Emeriti: Robert Duncan, Lincoln, NE

John Henry, Chattanooga, TN

Peter Hobart, Italy

Robert Vogele, Hinsdale, IL

Founder: Elden Tefft, Lawrence, KS

Lifetime Achievement in

Contemporary Sculpture Recipients

Magdalena Abakanowicz

Fletcher Benton

Louise Bourgeois

Anthony Caro

Elizabeth Catlett

John Chamberlain

Eduardo Chillida

Christo & Jeanne-Claude

Mark di Suvero

Richard HuntPhillip King

William King

Manuel Neri

Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen

Nam June Paik

Arnaldo Pomodoro

Gio’ Pomodoro

Robert Rauschenberg

George Rickey

George Segal

Kenneth Snelson

Frank Stella

William Tucker

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Departments

10 Itinerary

16 Commissions

72 ISC News

Reviews

65 Houston: Marc Swanson

66 Troy, Alabama: Duane Paxson

67 Honolulu: Steven and William Ladd

67 Chicago: Aristotle Georgiades

68 New York: William Corwin

69 New York: Jene Highstein

70 Buenos Aires: Juan Miceli

71 Venice: Fabrizio Plessi, Pier Paolo Calzolari,

and Marisa Merz

On the Cover: Elizabeth Turk, Knot 1, 2011.

Marble, 4.5 x 13 x 4 in. Photograph: © Eric

Stoner, Courtesy Hirschl & Adler Modern,

New York.

Features

18 The Line Defining Three-Dimensional Space: A Conversation with Elizabeth Turk

by Rebecca Dimling Cochran

26 Ranjani Shettar: Playing with Creation by Chitra Balasubramaniam

32 Shuli Sadé: Thinking in Time by Jonathan Goodman

36 The Girl Who Liked to Smell Dirt: A Conversation with Lori Nozick by Marty Carlock

40 Ays̨e Erkmen’s Plan B and Other (Not So) Futile Gestures by Berin Golonu

46 Rita McBride: (Re) Negotiating the Public Realm by Christina Lanzl

52 Allan Wexler: The Man Who Would Be Architecture by Joyce Beckenstein

26

sculpture Jan uar y/F ebr uar y 2012

Vol. 31 No. 1

A publication of the

International Sculpture Center

32

40

Sculpture January/February 2012 5

52

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6 Sculpture 31.1

S C U L P T U R E M A G A Z I N E

Editor Glenn Harper

Managing Editor Twylene Moyer

Editorial Assistants Elena Goukassian, Joshua Parkey

Design Eileen Schramm visual communicationAdvertising Sales Manager Brenden O’Hanlon

Contributing Editors Maria Carolina Baulo (Buenos

Aires), Roger Boyce (Christchurch), Susan Canning (New

York), Marty Carlock (Boston), Jan Garden Castro (New

York), Collette Chattopadhyay (Los Angeles), Ina Cole

(London), Ana Finel Honigman (Berlin), John K. Grande

(Montreal), Kay Itoi (Tokyo), Matthew Kangas (Seattle),

Zoe Kosmidou (Athens), Angela Levine (Tel Aviv), Brian

McAvera (Belfast), Robert C. Morgan (New York), Robert

Preece (Rotterdam), Brooke Kamin Rapaport (New

York), Ken Scarlett (Melbourne), Peter Selz (Berkeley),

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).

isc

Benefactor’s Circle ($100,000+)

Atlantic Foundation

Karen & Robert Duncan

John Henry

J. Seward Johnson, Jr.

Johnson Art & Education Foundation

Joshua S. Kanter

Kanter Family Foundation

Gertrud & Heinz Kohler-Aeschlimann

Marc LeBaron

Lincoln Industries

National Endowment for the Arts

Mary O’Shaughnessy

I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation

Estate of John A. Renna

Jon & Mary Shirley Foundation

Dr. & Mrs. Robert Slotkin

Bernar Venet

Chairman’s Circle ($10,000–49,999)

Magdalena Abakanowicz

Anonymous Foundation

Janet Blocker

Blue Star Contemporary Art Center

Debra Cafaro & Terrance LivingstonChelsea College of Art & Design

Sir Anthony Caro

Clinton Family Fund

Richard Cohen

Don Cooperman

David Diamond

Jarvis & Constance Doctorow Family Foundation

Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Terry & Robert Edwards

Lin Emery

Fred Eychaner

Carole Feuerman

Doris & Donald Fisher

Bill FitzGibbons

Alan GibbsDavid Handley

Richard Heinrich

Daniel A. Henderson

Michelle Hobart

Peter C. Hobart

Joyce & Seward Johnson Foundation

KANEKO

Ree & Jun Kaneko

Mary Ann Keeler

Keeler Foundation

Phillip King

William King

Anne Kohs Associates

Cynthia Madden Leitner/Museum of Outdoor Arts

Toby D. Lewis Philanthropic Fund

Marlene & Sandy Louchheim

Marlborough Gallery

Patricia Meadows

Creighton MichaelBarrie Mowatt

Manuel Neri

New Jersey Cultural Trust

Ralph O’Connor

Frances & Albert Paley

Patricia Renick

Pat Renick Gift Fund

Henry Richardson

Melody Sawyer Richardson

Russ Rubert

Salt Lake Art Center

Carol L. Sarosik & Shelley Padnos

June & Paul Schorr, III

Judith Shea

Armando SilvaKenneth & Katherine Snelson

STRETCH

Mark di Suvero

Takahisa Suzuki

Aylin Tahincioglu

Steinunn Thorarinsdottir

Tishman Speyer

Brian Tune

University of the Arts London

Boaz Vaadia

Robert E. Vogele

Georgia Welles

Elizabeth Erdreich White

Address all editorial correspondence to:

Sculpture

1633 Connecticut Avenue NW, 4th Floor

Washington, DC 20009Phone: 202.234.0555, fax 202.234.2663

E-mail: [email protected]

Sculpture On-Line on the International

Sculpture Center Web site:

www.sculpture.org

Advertising information

E-mail

I N T E R N A T 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 EThe International Sculpture Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization

that provides programming and services supported by contributions, grants,

sponsorships, and memberships.

The ISC Board of Trustees gratefully acknowledges the generosity of our

members and donors in our Contemporary Sculpture Circle: those who have

contributed $350 and above.

I N T E R N A T I O N A L S C U L P T U R E C E N T E R

Executive Director Johannah Hutchison

Conference and Events Manager Carla Watts

Conference and Events Coordinator Samantha Rauscher

Office Manager Denise JesterExecutive Assistant Alyssa Brubaker

Grant Writer/Development Coordinator Kara Kaczmarzyk

Membership Manager Julie Hain

Membership Associate Emily Fest

Web Manager Karin Jervert

ISC Headquarters

19 Fairgrounds Road, Suite B

Hamilton, New Jersey 08619

Phone: 609.689.1051, fax 609.689.1061

E-mail: [email protected]

Major Donors ($50,000–99,999)Chakaia Booker

Fletcher Benton

Erik & Michele Christiansen

Rob Fisher

Richard Hunt

Robert Mangold

Fred & Lena Meijer

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

New Jersey State Council on the Arts

Pew Charitable Trust

Arnaldo Pomodoro

Walter Schatz

William Tucker

Nadine Witkin, Estate of Isaac Witkin

Mary & John Young

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About the ISCThe International Sculpture Center is a member-supported, nonprofit organizationfounded in 1960 to champion the creation and understanding of sculpture andits unique and vital contribution to society. The mission of the ISC is to expand

public understanding and appreciation of sculpture internationally, demonstratethe power of sculpture to educate and effect social change, engage artists andarts professionals in a dialogue to advance the art form, and promote a support-ive environment for sculpture and sculptors. The ISC values: our constituents—Sculptors, Institutions, and Patrons; dialogue—as the catalyst to innovation andunderstanding; education—as fundamental to personal, professional, and soci-etal growth; and community—as a place for encouragement and opportunity.

MembershipISC membership includes subscriptions to Sculpture and Insider; access toInternational Sculpture Conferences; free registration in Portfolio, the ISC’son-line sculpture registry; and discounts on publications, supplies, and services.

International Sculpture ConferencesThe ISC’s International Sculpture Conferences gather sculpture enthusiastsfrom all over the world to network and dialogue about technical, aesthetic,and professional issues.

Sculpture MagazinePublished 10 times per year, Sculpture is dedicated to all forms of contemporarysculpture. The members’ edition includes the Insider newsletter, which containstimely information on professional opportunities for sculptors, as well as a list

of recent public art commissions and announcements of members’ accomplish-ments.

www.sculpture.orgThe ISC’s award-winning Web site is the most comprehensiveresource for information on sculpture. It features Portfolio, an on-line slideregistry and referral system providing detailed information about artists and theirwork to buyers and exhibitors; the Sculpture Parks and Gardens Directory , withlistings of over 250 outdoor sculpture destinations; Opportunities, a membershipservice with commissions, jobs, and other professional listings; plus the ISCnewsletter and extensive information about the world of sculpture.

Education Programs and Special EventsISC programs include the Outstanding Sculpture Educator Award, the OutstandingStudent Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Awards, and the LifetimeAchievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture and gala. Other special eventsinclude opportunities for viewing art and for meeting colleagues in the field.

Director’s Circle ($5,000–9,999)

This issue is supportedin part by a grant fromthe National Endowmentfor the Arts.

This program is made possible in

part by funds from the New JerseyState Council on the Arts/Departmentof State, a Partner Agency of theNational Endowment for the Arts.

555 International Inc.•Ruth Abernethy•Linda Ackley-Eaker•D. James Adams•John Adduci•Osman Akan•Mine Akin•Elizabeth Aralia•Doris H. Arkin•Michelle Armitage•Art Valley•Uluhan Atac•Michael Aurbach•HelenaBacardi-Kiely•Sarah Barnhart-Fields•Brooke Barrie•Jerry Ross Barrish•Carlos Basanta•Fatma Basoglu-Takiiil•Bruce Beasley•Joseph Becherer•Edward Benavente•Joshua Bederson•Joseph Benevenia•Patricia BengtsonJones•Constance Bergfors•Evan Berghan•Ronald Berman•Roger Berry•Henri Bertrand•Cindy Billingsley•Denice Bizot•Rita Blitt•Christian Bolt•Marina Bonomi•Gilbert V. Boro•Louise Bourgeois•Linda Bowden•JudithBritain•Walter Bruszewski•Gil Bruvel•Hal Buckner•Ruth M. Burink•H. Edward Burke•Maureen Burns-Bowie•Keith Bush•Mary Pat Byrne•PattieByron•Imel Sierra Cabrera•Kati Casida•Dav id Cau dill•Jan Chenoweth•Won Jung Choi•Asherah Cinnamon•John Clement•Jonathan Clowes•Robert Clyatt•Marco Cochrane•Lynda Cole•Austin Collins•Randy Cooper•J. Laurence Costin•Fuller Cowles & Constance Mayeron•Robert Crowel•Amir Daghigh•Sukhdev Dail•Tomasz Danilewicz•Arianne Dar•Erich Davis•Martin Dawe•Paul A. Deans•Arabella Decker•Angel Delgado•G.S. Demirok•Albert Dicruttalo•Anthony DiFrancesco•Karen Dimit•KonstantinDimopoulos•Marylyn Dintenfass•Deborah Adams Doering•Yvonne GaDomenge•Dorit Dornier•Jim Doubleday•Philip S. Drill•Laura Evans Durant•Charles Eisemann•Ward Elicker•Jorge Elizondo•Elaine Ellis•Bob Emser•Robert Erskine•Helen Escobedo•John W. Evans•Philip John Evett•IsabelleFaucher•Johann Feilacher•Zhang Feng•Helaman Ferguson•Pattie PorterFirestone•Talley Fisher•True Fisher•Dustine Folwarczny•Basil C. Frank•MaryAnnella Frank•Gayle & Margaret Franzen•Dan Freeman•Jason Frizzell•James Gallucci•Eliseo Garcia•Ron Gard•Ronald Garrigues•Beatriz

Gerenstein•Shohini Ghosh•James S. Gibson•Jacqueline Gilmore•HelgiGislason•Joe Gitterman•Edmund Glass•Glenn Green Galleries & SculptureGarden•DeWitt Godfrey•Roger Golden•Yuebin Gong•Gordon HuetherStudio•Thomas Gottsleben•Todd Graham•Peter Gray•Francis Greenburger•Gabriele Poehlmann Grundig•Barbara Grygutis•Simon Gudgeon•ThomasGuss•Roger Halligan•Wataru Hamasaka•Mike Hansel•Jens Ingvard Hansen•Bob Haozous•Jacob J. Harmeling•Susan Harrison•Barbara Hashimoto•Sally Hepler•Kenneth Herlihy•David B. Hickman•Joyce Hilliou•KathrynHixson•Bernard Hosey•Jack Howard-Potter•Brad Howe•Jon Barlow Hudson•Robert Huff•Ken Huston•Yoshitada Ihara•Eve Ingalls•Lucy Irvine•J. JohnsonGallery•James Madison University•Jivko Jeliazkov•Julia Jitkoff•AndrewJordan•Johanna Jordan•Wolfram Kalt•Kent Karlsson•Ray Katz•CorneliaKavanagh•Jan Keating•Robert E. Kelly•Lita Kelmenson•Orest Keywan•Hitoshi Kimura•Gloria Kisch•Stephen Kishel•Bernard Klevickas•JacquelineKohos•Adriana Korkos•Krasl Art Center•Jon Krawczyk•Dave & Vicki Krecek•KUBO•Lynn E. La Count•Dale Lamphere•Alexis Laurent•Henry Lautz•WonLee•Michael Le Grand•Evan Lewis•John R. Light•Ken Light•RobertLindsay•Marvin Lipofsky•Robert Longhurst•Sharon Loper•Charles Loving•Jeff Lowe•Helen Lykes•Lynden Sculpture Garden•Noriaki Maeda•MikeMajor•Andrea Malaer•Jane Manus•Lenville Maxwell•Edward Mayer•Claire McArdle•William McBride•Isabel McCall•Jeniffer McCandless•JosephMcDonnell•Ceci Cole McInturff•Sam McKinney•Darcy Meeker•RonMehlman•Gina Michaels•Ruth Aizuss Migdal-Brown•Lowell Miller•BrianMonaghan•Norman Mooney•Richard Moore, III•Jean -Pierre Mor in•AikoMorioka•DeeDee Morrison•Keld Moseholm•Serge Mozhnevsky•W.W.Mueller•Anna Murch•Robert Murphy•Morley Myers•Arnold Nadler•

Marina Nash•Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park•John Nicolai•James Nickel•Donald Noon•Joseph O’Connell•Thomas O’Hara•Michelle O’Michael•ThomasOstenberg•Frank Ozereko•Palmyra Sculpture Centre•Scott Palsce•GertrudParker•Ronald Parks•Tarunkumar Patel•Mark Patterson•Jolanta Pawlak•Carol Peligian•Beverly Pepper•Cathy & Troy Perry•Anne & Doug Peterson•Dirk Peterson•Terrance Plowright•Daniel Postellon•Bev Precious•JonathanQuick•Semion Rabinkov•Morton Rachofsky•Kimberly Radochia•Marcia Raff•Vicky Randall•Jeannette Rein•Chase Revel•Anthony Ricci•Ellie Riley•Robert Webb Sculpture Garden/Creative Arts Guild•Kevin Robb•AndrewRogers•Salvatore Romano•Carol Ross•Susan Ferrari Rowley•James B. Sagui•Olou Komlan Samuel•Nathan Sawaya•Tom Scarff•Peter Schifrin•MarkSchlachter•Andy Scott•John Searles•Joseph H. Seipel•Art Self•CarlosSetien•Mary Shaffer•Patrick Shannon•Kambiz Sharif•Scott Sherk•JerryShore•Debra Silver•Daniel Sinclair•Vanessa L. Smith•Yvette Kaiser Smith•Susan Smith-Trees•Stan Smokler•Frances Sniffen•Sam Spiczka•JohnStallings•Robert St. Croix•Eric Stein•Linda Stein•Eric Stephenson•MichaelStearns•Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas•Jozef Sumichrast•David Sywalski•TashTaskale•Cordell Taylor•Timothy Taylor•Richard Taylor•Peter Terry•Ana Thiel•Marta Thoma•Peter Tilley•Stephen Tirone•Cliff Tisdell•Rein Triefeldt•JohnValpocelli•Jon Vander Bloomen•Vasko Vassilev•Martine Vaugel•PhilipVaughan•Kathy Venter•Ales Vesely•Jill Viney•Bruce Voyce•Ed Walker•Martha Walker•Sydney Waller•Blake Ward•Mark Warwick•Andrew White•Michael Whiting•Philip Wicklander•John Wiederspan•Madeline Wiener•W.K. Kellogg Foundation•Wesley Wofford•Jean Wolff•Dr. Barnaby Wright•Joan Wynn•Cigdem Yapanar•Riva Yares•Albert Young•Larry Young•GenrichZafir•Steve Zaluski•Peter Zandbergen•Gavin Zeigler•Glenn Zweygardt

Dean ArkfeldVerina BaxterMelva Bucksbaum & Raymond LearsyGiancarlo CalicchiaCause Contemporary GalleryThe Columbus MuseumHenry DavisTerry Dintenfass, Inc.James GeierAgnes GundDr. LaRue HardingEd Hardy Habit/Hardy LLC

Paul HubbardPaul KleinPhlyssa KoshlandGary KulakNanci LanniChuck LevyJim & Karen LinderSteve MaloneyRobert E. Meyerhoff & Rheda BeckerMillennium Park, Inc.Lowell MillerDavid Mirvish

Prescott MuirMuseum of Contemporary Art, ChicagoJohn P. & Anne NelsonGeorge NeubertSassona NortonSteven OliverTom OtternessPolich Tallix Art FoundryRoger Smith HotelKy & Jane RohmanGreg & Laura SchnackelSculpt Nouveau

Storm King Art CenterThai Metal CraftersThe Todd & Betiana Simon FoundationTmimaTootsie Roll IndustriesUBS Financial ServicesEdward UlhirSteve Vail Fine ArtsHans Van De Bovenkamp LTDUrsula von RydingsvardAlex Wagman

Professional Circle ($350–999)

Patron’s Circle ($2,500–4,999)

Elizabeth CatlettChateau Ste. Michelle Winery

Moore College of Art & DesignMuseum of Arts & Design

Princeton University Art MuseumElisabeth Swanson

Doris & Peter TillesPhilipp von Matt

Friend’s Circle ($1,000–2,499)

Ana & Gui AffonsoSydney & Walda Besthoff Otto M. Budig Family FoundationLisa ColburnRic CollierFreedmanArtGrounds For SculptureRalf Gschwend

Haunch of VenisonMichael JohnsonTony KarmanGallery KasaharaSusan LloydMartin MarguliesMerchandise Mart PropertiesJill & Paul Meister

Gerard MeulensteenNational Gallery, LondonKristen NordahlBrian OhnoClaes Oldenburg & Coosje

van BruggenDennis OppenheimBill Roy

Doug SchatzMary Ellen ScherlSculpture Community/

sculpture.netSebastiánEve & Fred SimonLisa & Tom SmithDuane Stranahan, Jr.

Roselyn SwigTateJulian TaubLaura ThorneHarry T. WilksIsaac WitkinRiva Yares Gallery

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_6/%EB%B3%B7%C6%97%E3%85%BD%0EI%07%EB%BA%88%DA%B2%E2%9D%A6S%13%E9%80%80http://www.sculpture.org/http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_6/H%C4%97aJr&?Rb%E5%B9%A6%EB%A8%98%E5%88%AE%0E,%CD%9E%E8%80%80http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_6/H%C4%97aJr&?Rb%E5%B9%A6%EB%A8%98%E5%88%AE%0E,%CD%9E%E8%80%80http://www.sculpture.org/http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_6/%EB%B3%B7%C6%97%E3%85%BD%0EI%07%EB%BA%88%DA%B2%E2%9D%A6S%13%E9%80%80


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10 Sculpture 31.1

P E R R Y : S T E P H E N W H I T E ,

C O U R T E S Y T H E A R T I S T A N D V I C T O R I A M I R O G A L L E

R Y , L O N D O N / L O S C A R P I N T E R O S : M A T T H I A S W I M L E R / K U N S T H A U S

G R A Z , 2 0 0 8 / W I L K E S : C O U R T E S Y T H E A R T I S T A N D G A L L E R I A R A U C C I /

S A N T A M A R I A ,

N A P L E S

Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern

i Contemporani de Palma

Palma, Majorca, Spain

Los Carpinteros

Through January 22, 2012

Renouncing the notion of individual

authorship, the Cuban collective

Los Carpinteros returns to the collab-

orative guild tradition. Remaining

members Dagoberto Rodriguez and

Marco Castillo take inspiration

from the products of skilled, artisanal

labor, particularly architectural struc-

tures, furniture and design objects,

tools, and construction materials,

though their often subversive works

alter the familiar to focus on the

contradictions between object and

functionality, art and the everyday,

practicality and uselessness. The four

sculptures featured here (in addi-

tion to wondrously morphing water-

colors) include a bed contorted into

the shape of a pretzel, a miniature

pool/aircraft carrier, a missile frozen

in place as it penetrates a wall, and

a group of old-fashioned drafting

tables covered with sheets of water.

Tel: + 34 971 908 200

Web site

Bass Museum of Art

Miami Beach

Erwin Wurm

Through March 4, 2012Every time Wurm produces a sculp-

ture from a real object—cars, pota-

toes, cucumbers, pieces of clothing—

he creates something strange and

wonderful. Embracing the absurd,

his work invites us to consider dif-

ferent possibilities for the ordinary

and familiar. Experiments in perfor-

mance, photography, installation,

drawing, video, and text add another

dimension, pushing the boundaries

of sculpture (particularly in the

“one-minute sculpture” perfor-

mances) by investigating elements

of time, mass, and material form.

Many of the new large-scale sculp-

tures in this show (including a

Drinking Sculpture that only achieves

completion when the audience is

drunk) operate on a theatrical scale,

inviting viewers to enter the per-

vasive weirdness that lurks beneath

the surface of social norms and

unquestioned conventions.

Tel: 305.673.7530

Web site

British Museum

London

Grayson Perry

Through February 19, 2012

Perry fuses art and craft into a multi-layered and complicated montage

of high and low, serious and humor-

ous, conventional and seditious. In

his latest project, “The Tomb of the

Unknown Craftsman,” the Turner

Prize-winning transvestite potter gives

voice to his inner artisan, thumbing

his nose at celebrity and staging

a “memorial to all the anonymous

craftsmen that over the centuries

have fashioned the manmade won-

ders of the world.” In addition to

creating new work—vases, elaborate

tapestries, and a richly decorated

cast iron coffin-ship, he has plun-

dered the museum’s vaults, selecting

a wide array of astonishing objects

from the past two million years

of human history, some funny, some

poetic, and some grim. In construct-

ing this deeply felt homage to what

it means to make—as a calling and

as a means of self-creation, irrespec-

tive of recognition—Perry once

again plays a double role, beneficiary

and decrier of the star system that

has plagued artists since the day

of the first signature.

Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7323 8299

Web site

Carnegie Museum of Art

PittsburghCathy Wilkes


A 2008 Turner Prize nominee, Wilkes

has raised eyebrows with her highly

charged arrangements of common-

place items and personal artifacts.

In She’s Pregnant Again, a TV com-

bines with a sink containing human

hair, a half-naked mannequin, and

a stroller in a tableau of almost

audible judgment. Formally precise

and essentially diaristic, her work

itinerary

Left: Grayson Perry, The Rosetta Vase.

Above: Erwin Wurm, Guggenheim—

melting. Top right: Los Carpinteros,

Cama. Right: Cathy Wilkes, Untitled .

http://www.esbaluard.org/http://www.bassmuseum.org/http://www.britishmuseum.org/http://www.britishmuseum.org/http://www.bassmuseum.org/http://www.esbaluard.org/


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employs a difficult and coded visual

language, making it what at least

one critic has called the kind of

contemporary art that “pundits paydeference to and that deep down

nobody really likes.” But uncompro-

mising introspection is not an end

in itself for Wilkes; as jarring as her

work can be, it exerts a strong

psychological pull that creates com-

monality and shared experience from

isolation. Her first American museum

exhibition demonstrates the power

behind what she calls the unde-

fined “ancient force” of history and

memory.

Tel: 412.622.3131

Web site

Castello di Rivoli

(and other venues)

Turin

Arte Povera 2011


Spanning the Italian peninsula from

Bergamo to Bari, this grand-scale

retrospective of Arte Povera (eight

shows in all) reunites its founding

theorist, curator Germano Celant,

with the artists—from Anselmo to

Zorio—whose work he christened

in 1967. Celant’s ambitious project

examines this influential movement

(Italy’s most important since

Futurism) not only as a historical

expression of socio-political unrest,

but also as a vital impulse that

continues to grow and inspire new

directions. Three segments of

the show are currently on view. “Arte

Povera International” at the Castellodi Rivoli focuses on international

dialogue and energy, juxtaposing

works by the movement’s exponents

with “responses” by (among others)

Vito Acconci, Bernd and Hilla

Becher, Joseph Beuys, Bill Bollinger,

Hanne Darboven, Rebecca Horn,

Richard Long, Maria Nordman, and

Robert Smithson. “Arte Povera

1967–2011,” a detailed chronology

of the movement’s evolution,

continues at the Triennale di Milano

through January 29. “Arte Povera in

teatro,” at the Teatro Margherita in

Bari through March 4, features dra-

matic installations in a fire-gutted

Stile Liberty theater, with new worksby Fabro, Anselmo, Marisa Merz,

and Calzolari, as well as an encore

appearance of Kounellis’s atmos-

pheric, site-specific Untitled , created

for the space in 2010.

Web site

,

,

Doris C. Freedman Plaza

New York

Michael Sailstorfer

Through February 19, 2012Sailstorfer revels in transformations,

contextual shifts, and spatial appro-

priations. His work reveals an acute

interest in everyday things and

materials from his immediate sur-

roundings, as well as a fascination

with the identity and history of his

sources. Broken down into their

component parts, these items are

deformed, adapted, and re-assem-

bled into powerful spatial installa-

tions. Despite the seeming violence

of Sailstorfer’s approach, his objects

and installations, including his new

creation, Tornado (a densely packed,

30-foot-high storm system made

from truck tire inner tubes), radiate

sentiment and compel emotional

response.

Tel: 212.980.4575

Web site

Haus der Kunst

MunichSculptural Acts


“Sculptural Acts” features works

by six artists who focus on process.

Responding to the characteristics

and demands of individual materials

(from paper, fabric, and glue to poly-

styrene, plaster, plywood, Sheetrock,

and found objects), Phyllida Barlow,

Alexandra Bircken, Michael Beutler,

Vincent Fecteau, Anita Leisz, and

Top left: Giovanni Anselmo, Entrare

nell’opera. Above: Jannis Kounellis,

Untitled . Both from “Arte Povera 2011.”

Left: Michael Sailstorfer, Tornado.

S A I L S

T O R F E R : J A M E S E W I N G ,

C O U R T E S Y P U B L I C A R T F U N D

_________

http://www.cmoa.org/http://www.castellodirivoli.org/http://triennale.org/artepovera345378/index.php?pag=eventohttp://triennale.org/artepovera345378/index.php?pag=eventohttp://triennale.org/artepovera345378/index.php?pag=eventohttp://www.artepovera2011.org/http://www.publicartfund.org/http://triennale.org/artepovera345378/index.php?pag=eventohttp://www.publicartfund.org/http://www.artepovera2011.org/http://triennale.org/artepovera345378/index.php?pag=eventohttp://www.castellodirivoli.org/http://www.cmoa.org/


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itinerary

12 Sculpture 31.1

Kimberly Sexton create objects that

carry the history of their making.

Born of action—enveloping, tearing,

folding, bending, and compressing—

their eccentric works reveal all,

layer after layer of experimentation,accident, reversal, and correction.

Tel: + 49 89 21127-113

Web site

Kunsthal Charlottenborg

Copenhagen

Simon Starling


Starling, the winner of the 2005

Turner Prize, is fascinated with

process—both physical and intellec-

tual. While playfully exploring

the links that connect craft, material,

and technique, his work also absorbs

the histories, contexts, and social

nuances of a locale or object. A

single piece or operation can reveal

countless contradictions. Part

utopian visionary and part critic, hedescribes his work as “the physical

manifestation of a thought process.”

Uncovering hidden histories and

relationships while transforming

one object or substance into another,

his sculptures, installations, and

pilgrimage-like journeys draw out an

array of ideas about nature, tech-

nology, and economics. This exhibi-

tion includes two recent works

exploring the notion of performance.

The Excursion, a newly commis-

sioned work, features a special pup-

pet play staged with the assistance

of Copenhagen’s Marionet Teatret.

Tel: + 45 33 36 90 50

Web site

Kunsthaus Bregenz

Bregenz, AustriaValie Export


After more than four active decades,

Export has taken her place as a key

protagonist of media art. From her

first works, in which she dropped her

real name and launched the Valie

Export brand (named for the Austrian

cigarettes Smart Export), she has

been a maverick of shifting identities

and role-playing. Through perfor-

mances, photographs, actions, sculp-

tures, texts, and installations, she

questions the place of women in

society, the boundaries between the

human body and its environment,

and social and cultural constraints—

in addition to the impact of technical

and electronic media on perception,

communication, and behavior. This

unique retrospective draws on

Export’s archive, made available for

the first time.

Tel: + 43 55 74 4 85 94-0

Web site

Kunstmuseum Bern

Bern, Switzerland

Berlinde De Bruyckere

Through February 12, 2012Among contemporary artists, De

Bruyckere is unique in her ability to

see beyond the form of the human

figure and feel the body as unrelent-

ing physicality—meat, tissue,

and sinew. Not since art imitated

the miracle of the word made flesh

has an artist created such fully

enfleshed works. De Bruyckere, not

surprisingly, is fascinated with

medieval and early Renaissance reli-

gious imagery, and her recent work

Top left: Michael Beutler, Elefant und

Schwein im 3D-Wandteppichstall, from

“Sculptural Acts.” Left: Valie Export,

Fragmente der Bilder einer Berührung.

Top: Simon Starling, Project for a Mas-

querade (Hiroshima). Above: Berlinde

De Bruyckere, Into One-Another to

P.P.P., III.

B E U T

L E R : W O L F G A N G G Ü N Z E L ,

O F F E N B A C H A . M . /

E X P O R T : M A R G H E R I T A S

P I L U T T I N I , ©

V A L I E E X P O R T / V B K ,

V I E N N A , 2 0 1 1 / D E B R U Y C K E R E : M I R J A M

D E V R I E N D T , C O U R T E S Y H A U S E R & W I R T H / S T A R L I N G : K E I I C H I M

O T O A N D T H E H I R O S H I M A C I T Y M U S E U M

O F C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T

http://www.hausderkunst.de/http://www.kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk/http://www.kunsthaus-bregenz.at/http://www.kunsthaus-bregenz.at/http://www.kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk/http://www.hausderkunst.de/


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finds a contemporary idiom for the

Man of Sorrows, a cult image focused

on Christ’s wounds, his physical

suffering, and hence the reality of

his incarnation as a man. This exhi-

bition puts her work in dialogue

with the paintings of Lucas Cranach

and the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini

(another controversial reinterpreter

of religious imagery and moral

codes). The juxtaposition not only

illuminates the tensions inherent

in the devotional image, as sensuality

feeds compassion and carnal longing

penetrates mystical faith, but

also critiques today’s ethical heresies

(or sins against the flesh), from frigid

mass media voyeurism to cold-

blooded torture.

Tel: + 41 31 328 09 44

Web site

Museum of Contemporary Art

North Miami Mark Handforth


Handforth creates out-of-this-world

encounters just a step away from the

ordinary. His sculptures transform

everyday elements of civic space—

from lampposts and street signs to

traffic cones, metal trash cans, and

Vespas—into distinctive personalities

that challenge perception. Re-scaled

and distorted, behaving in decidedly

abnormal ways, these subtle intru-

sions skew rational perspectives,

introducing a double-edged magic

of wit and pathos that undermines

the complacency of the public realm.

This exhibition, which features more

than 30 works, stays true to

Handforth’s playful spirit, spilling out

of the museum to infiltrate locations

throughout South Florida.

Tel: 305.893.6211

Web site

Museum Tinguely

Basel

Robert Breer


The roots of Breer’s groundbreaking

animation can be traced to an

unlikely source—the reductive purity

of Mondrian’s abstract grids. Looking

beyond stable harmony to the shift-ing movements behind the stasis,

Breer developed his own take

on hard-edge abstraction in which

irregular forms wrestle against each

other in a permanent state of unrest.

This exhibition follows the course

of his obsession with motion, from

painting to film to another important

body of work, the motion sculptures

or “floats.” Set loose in real time

and space, these simple, minimal

forms move at an almost impercep-

tible speed, each in its own direction.

Once they collide, they trace new

paths in an endless dance of comple-

ment and contradiction, demon-

strating the power of using one force

to define its opposite: movement to

counteract movement, pause

to dramatize speed, and solidity to

visualize flux.

Tel: + 41 61 681 93 20

Web site

Parco Arte Vivente

Turin

Andrea Polli


Polli and collaborator Chuck Varga

work with atmospheric scientists to

develop systems for understanding

weather, pollution, and climate

change through sound and visualiza-

tion. Many of her works rely on

“sonification,” a process that trans-

lates raw data (about everything

from sulfur dioxide, carbon monox-

ide, and ozone pollution to light-

ning, wave, and wind trends) into

compelling and understandable

forms. Recent projects include a spa-

tialized sonification of New York

storms, a Web site tracking climate

in Central Park, and a real-time soni-

fication and visualization of weather

in the Arctic. This compelling survey

also features two site-specificenvironmental installations. Breather

and Cloud Car —an old Fiat 500 and

a Fiat 126, chosen as nostalgic sym-

bols of a once robust Italian econo-

my—give visible form to air (and its

contaminants), demonstrating how

such “necessities” can “have a very

high cost for the environment.”

Tel: + 39 011 3182235

Web site

B R E E R : C H .

B E R N A R D O T , ©

R O B E R T B R E E R ,

C O U R T E S Y G B A G E N C Y , P A R I S /

P O L L I : ©

P A V T O R I N O

Above: Robert Breer, Float . Top

right: Andrea Polli, Cloud Car . Right:

Mark Handforth, Rolling Stop.

http://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/http://www.mocanomi.org/http://www.tinguely.ch/http://www.parcoartevivente.it/http://www.parcoartevivente.it/http://www.tinguely.ch/http://www.mocanomi.org/http://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/


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itinerary

14 Sculpture 31.1

S I G N E R : E M I L G R U B E N M A N N ,

C O U R T E S Y G A L E R I E M A R T I N J A N D A ,

V I E N N A

/ C U R T I S A N D S E G A L L : B I L Y A N A D I M I T R O V A / A I : C O U R T E S Y T H E A R T I S T

Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros

Mexico City

Roman Signer


A master of the controlled accident,

Signer gives a humorous twist to

the concept of cause and effect. His

“action sculptures” stand the tradi-

tional scientific method of experi-

mentation and discovery on its head,

taking the self-evidence of logic

as an artistic challenge. Following

carefully planned and strictly exe-

cuted and documented procedures,

he enacts and records explosions,

collisions, and the projection of

objects through space—all in the

interest of creating emotionally and

visually compelling events dictated

by time, acceleration, and change.

This show of representative worksalso features several new pieces,

including an homage to David Alfaro

Siqueiros’s colorful murals

(Siqueiros, incidentally, coined the

term “controlled accident”), engi-

neered by miniature helicopters ran-

domly hurling paint onto the walls

of the museum, and Acht Stühle,

which introduces fireworks into the

galleries to toy with the idea of self-

destruction.

Tel: + 5255 55 31 33 94

Web site

Socrates Sculpture Park

Long Island City, New York

Emerging Artist Fellowship

Exhibition 2011

Through March 4, 2012

EAF artists are selected through an

open call for proposals and awarded

a grant and residency at Socrates’

outdoor studio; for many, this is their

first opportunity to work outside on

a large scale. This year’s works repre-

sent a broad range of materials,

methods, and subject matter—from

the ultimate in urban transparency

and an architectural view of hell to a

vitrine of artifacts from a lost world,a triumphal arch made of cast-off

bricks, and a stone-cold flophouse

shelter. Works by Cecile Chong, Joy

Curtis, Nadja Frank, Ben Godward,

Darren Goins, Ethan Greenbaum,

Jesse A. Greenberg, Rachel Higgins,

Roxanne Jackson, Hong Seon Jang,

Jason Clay Lewis, Saul Melman, Jo

Nigoghossian, Nick Paparone, Don

Porcella, Jessica Segall, Walter

Benjamin Smith, Jean-Marc Super-

ville Sovak, Nicolas Touron, and

Nichole van Beek are installed

against the park’s spectacular water-front view of the Manhattan skyline.

Tel: 718.956.1819

Web site

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Taipei

Ai Weiwei


It’s no surprise that Taiwan is hosting

Ai’s first major exhibition in the

ethnic Chinese world. Though his

disappearance for 81 days earlier

this year and subsequent confine-

ment to Beijing prevented his full

collaboration (as was planned),

such obstacles have only raised the

protest quotient of this aptly named

show. “Absent” features 21 works

dating from 1982 to the present,

encompassing the entire range of

Ai’s eclectic output—photography,

video, ceramic and marble works,

and altered antiques—every piece

aimed at a different chamber in

the contradictory heart of Chinese

culture. Probing relationships

between past and present, authen-

ticity and imitation, worthlessness

and value, freedom and oppression,

these works push limits and defy

censorship. (Good behavior, however,

is guaranteed by a hand-sculpted

security camera.) Forever Bicycles, a

labyrinthine new installation com-

posed of 1,200 bikes continues the

nuanced critique: every cut andre-assembled bike in the structure is

the product of the Shanghai Forever

Company, a state-run concern.

Ai says that the work represents

the changing face of his homeland,

where the consuming drive for

wealth runs roughshod over hum-

bler values like equality.

Tel: + 886 2 25957656

Web site

Left: Roman Signer, Sandsäule. Top

left: Joy Curtis, Hades. Top: Jessica

Segall, The Soft Finds a Central

Position. Both from EAF 2011. Above:

Ai Weiwei, Forever Bicycles.

http://www.saps-latallera.org/http://www.socratessculpturepark.org/http://www.tfam.museum/http://www.tfam.museum/http://www.socratessculpturepark.org/http://www.saps-latallera.org/


17/76


18/76

F K M KThe Games Are Open

Vancouver, Canada

Berlin-based artists Folke Köbberling and Martin

Kaltwasser have been creating “structural interven-

tions” in public places since 1998, often using litter,

trash, and other discarded items. In conjunction with

the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Other Sights

for Artists’ Projects approached the artists with the

idea of using materials salvaged from the athletes’

village for a new project.

The wheat board panels that make up The Games

Are Open previously served as protective sheathing

for the village’s brand-new condos. In their current

reincarnation, they take the form of a slowly decomposing bulldozer, one built

specifically with Vancouver’s rainy climate in mind. As the sculpture falls

apart, it is transforming into a makeshift community garden where neighbors

are invited to plant seeds, watch them grow, and harvest the produce. Over

the past year, since its original installation in a large empty lot in Southeast

False Creek across the water from downtown skyscrapers, additional soil

has been added to provide a fertile environment for a mix of seeds, including

several types of grasses, clovers, and rye.

The decomposing bulldozer aims a tongue-in-cheek critique at Olympic

development schemes and current urban projects. As Köbberling notes,

“The bulldozer stands for the tabula rasa, the immediate erosion of land and

buildings.” Although the commissioner, Other Sights, maintains that theproject has more to do with an appreciation of the ephemeral than anything

else, there is no doubt that The Games Are Open simultaneously addresses

community building through a new conception of “green space,” decom-

modification of the art object, and the accessibility of art. This seemingly

simple sculpture depends on participation in order to develop and thrive,

making it a truly public artwork.

A W

Untitled #155

West Bretton, Wakefield, U.K.

Aeneas Wilder’s sculptures are made to be destroyed. At the end of an exhi-

bition, he gathers an audience together, kicks his structure, and watches

what took days to assemble crumble to the ground in a matter of seconds.

16 Sculpture 31.1

K Ö B B

E R L I N G A N D K A L T W A S S E R : T O P : O T H E R S I G H T S F O R A R T I S T S ' P R O J E C T S A N D S I T E P H O T O G R A P H Y , C O U R T E S Y T H E A R T I S T S ; B O T T O M : B A R B A

R A C O L E ,

C O U R T E S Y O T H E R S I G H T S F O R A R T I S T S ’ P R O J E C T S / W I L D E R : T O P : ©

J O N T Y W I L D E ; B O T T O M : ©

J I M

V A R N E Y B O T H : C O U R T E S Y Y O R K S H I R E S C U L P T U R E P A R K

commissionscommissions

Left: Folke Köbberling and Martin Kaltwasser, The Games Are Open, 2010. Wheat board

panels, 6 x 7 x 14 meters. Two views: (top) September 2010; (bottom) October 2011.

Above: Aeneas Wilder, Untitled # 155, 2011. Iroko wood, 4.5 x 18 meters diameter.


19/76

Untitled #155, one of Wilder’s most recent projects, was commissioned byYorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) and kicked down in November. In this intricate

construction, approximately 10,000 equal lengths of wood were precariously

balanced on top of one another, without fixing, joining, or additional materials.

After the “kick down,” Wilder collected the wood in boxes and will likely use

it again in future projects. As he says, “By limiting the creative act to one sim-

ple material, in ample supply, with clearly defined parameters…a door opens

into a wholly unexplored creative territory.” Creating the illusion of structural

stability, Wilder’s sculptures offer interaction, inviting viewers to enter the

alternate spaces that they create within gallery confines.

Born in Edinburgh and currently based in Japan, Wilder references Zen

through the meticulous construction of his works, which often resemble

traditional Japanese architectural and decorative motifs. (Untitled #155, for

example, looked like a long, winding folding screen made out of wooden

blinds [sudare].) After the earthquake in Japan last spring, many journalists

interpreted his delicate constructions as symbols alluding to the fragility of

the country’s infrastructure. Although Wilder refutes these specific readings,

he admits that “the precariousness of each [work] hints at the delicate balance

of man versus nature.”

The transitory character of Wilder’s work, together with the climactic moment

of the visually documented kick down, serves as a commentary on the inevi-

table and seemingly random cycle of creation and destruction in the world

at large, empowering the artist as creator and destroyer in an increasingly

market-driven art world.

B-N S

Table Cloth

Los Angeles

In the spring and summer of 2010, the University of California, Los Angeles’s

Schoenberg Hall courtyard hosted a unique outdoor installation and perfor-

mance space. Designed by Ball-Nogues Studio, a self-described “integrated

design and fabrication practice operating in the territory between architecture,

art, and industrial design,” Table Cloth was made up of hundreds of unique

coffee-style tables and three-legged stools, linked together to create a kind of

tapestry that hung from the main building of the Herb Alpert School of Music.

Where the tables and chairs met the ground, they could be disconnected from

each other to serve the needs of musical performances, activities, and

gatherings. At the end of the summer, the university community was invitedto dismantle the sculpture and reuse its furniture components.

An exercise in what Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues refer to as “cross man-

ufacturing,” Table Cloth was specifically designed to be dismantled and its

parts put to different use. They define this approach as moving “beyond recy-

cling and reuse,” calling into question the very idea of current “green” design.

Although, as Ball remarks, it is overly optimistic to hold Table Cloth as an

exemplary model for the future of environmentally friendly design since “we

probably will not see a world where the components that make up our build-

ings become useful consumer products in their own right…one never knows…

Perhaps someday the wall systems of buildings will

be constructed of frying pans and barbecue grills.”

Together with its transitory beauty and distinctive

reusability, Table Cloth also served an acoustic func-

tion. According to Ball, musicians appreciated the

sculpture for its ability to lower reverberation times

in the somewhat enclosed outdoor performance

space, thereby improving the acoustics of musicalperformances in the courtyard.

The congruity of Table Cloth’s design impressed

not only the UCLA community, but also the American

Institute of Architects, which gave it a 2010 Design

Award. The piece was also listed as a top project

in Americans for the Arts’ 2011 Public Art Year in

Review, further demonstrating the success of this one-

of-a-kind exercise in the site-specific ephemeral.

—Elena Goukassian


S C O T

T M A Y O R A L ,

C O U R T E S Y T H E A R T I S T S

Ball-Nogues Studio, Table Cloth, 2010. Plywood, steel, felt, and

hardware, 30 x 20 x 50 ft.

Juries are convened each month to select works for Commissions. Information on recently completed commissions, along with high-resolution

digital images (300 dpi at 4 x 5 in. minimum), should be sent to: Commissions, Sculpture, 1633 Connecticut Avenue NW, 4th Floor, Washington,

DC 20009. E-mail . ____________

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


20/76


21/76

Elizabeth Turk does not fit very comfortably within an

art world that demands rapid production of work for

museum shows, international biennials, and an ever-

expanding range of art fairs. Her meticulously carved

sculptures take years to create, and their fragile nature

makes them difficult to transport. Still, growing num-

bers of admirers have followed her steady progress, and

in 2010, Turk was awarded the prestigious MacArthur

Fellowship. Her newest body of work, four years in the

making, will premiere at Hirschl & Adler Modern in New

York, March 1–31, 2012, during Armory Week.


Opposite: Collar 21 (detail), 2010.

Silvec marble, 23 x 14 x 17 in. Above:

Cage #1, 2008. Corton French lime-

stone, 35 x 29 x 12 in.

The Line DefiningThree-Dimensional

SpaceA Conversation with

O P P O

S I T E : ©

E R I C S T O N E R ,

C O U R T E S Y H I R S C H L & A D L E R M O D E R N ,

N Y / T H I S P A G E : ©

J O S H U A N E F K S Y , C O U R T E S Y H I R S C H L & A D L E R M O D E R N ,

N Y

BY REBECCA DIMLING COCHRAN


22/76

20 Sculpture 31.1

Rebecca Dimling Cochran: You present your

work thematically. Earlier series were titled

“Wings,” “Collars,” and “Ribbons,” and

your newest is “Cages.” How do these seriesevolve?

Elizabeth Turk: “Collars” was really about

the connection between small shapes,

conceptually similar to a flock of birds or a

swarm of fish. Then I moved into “Ribbons,”

which I look at as sketches. Taking those

small shapes (and they all work together),

how could they move through space? With

the “Cages,” the next step was taking those

pathways, or systems, and integrating

them with one another. This became the

idea of a cage.

At this point, it’s expanded greatly,

because there are a lot of other intellectual

ponderings that get thrown into the mix.

The “Collars” were not entirely closed

spaces. I liked the idea of an object that

was entirely open in the interior, but with

locked parameters. This touches back on

the “Wing” series, where I tried to keep

the outside dimensions exactly to those of

the original stone, and so, it harks back

to another story. That’s the thread.

RDC: So, the “Cages” are consistent in that

each piece is entirely enclosed, all the way

around, whether in the shape of a circle,

a rectangle, or a square.

ET: Exactly. It’s the line defining a three-

dimensional space, a line that can fold

back on itself, like a circle or band will

define a space. One can wonder, then, if

it is a cage, or a boundary. “Cage” is a

loaded title, so you can take it in a lot of

different directions.

RDC: Is it always a single, unbroken line

that runs through and connects back to

itself?ET: Many of them are, to play with the idea

of the infinite. A couple are bands, or circles,

and one is defined by three circles.

RDC: Each one is carved from marble, a

solid and weighty material that, in your

hands, turns into something delicate, light,

and airy. How did you begin to experiment

with the idea of the void that now perme-

ates the work?

ET: That has a few answers. I like the femi-

ninity of having it really light, although I

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Collar 21, 2010. Silvec marble, 23 x 14 x 17 in.


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did not start off in that direction, it’s sort

of a by-product. I have the luxury of keeping

my studio in a marble yard that has some

of the best equipment in the industry. Bywatching what is technologically possible,

you can’t help but translate it into your

own work—and so, machinery itself is

pushing me along. You can replicate every-

thing now; 3-D imaging is changing the

topography. You can enlarge work; you can

make it look surreal. You can do anything

that you can do on a computer, but that’s

not interesting to me. The undercuts and

what’s not there are much more interesting.

Plus, the grinding does not send as many

vibrations through the stone, and so I

thought, “How far can I take that? What

is extreme about that?” Philosophically, I

like the idea of emptiness, the Buddhist

concept of emptiness. Things like matrices

or filigree structures seem much more

flexible, much more workable, and these

[ideas] paralleled what was available tech-

nologically.

RDC: Where does your marble come from?

ET: I never go to a quarry and choose stone.

Most of my stone comes to me. I work in

the marble yard at Chiarini Marble and

Stone. Currently, they have a large project

in Texas, a beautiful doorway. The blocks

were cut thick and beautifully, but they

didn’t use all of them so I purchased some.

I like that the stone was not cut for my

project, but for a doorframe. It is a way of

putting my story and my adaptation on

the material. Nature already made this

incredible stone, then it gets chosen for

another purpose. I also have a block that

was once a part of a building in Washing-

ton, DC, and it still has its big iron core

[once the essential connection to thebuilding frame]. It’s cool to think that’s

how buildings were made. Now, we use

veneers. That block is a foot and a half

thick. I like that there is another storyline

being told, not just my own.

If you really get into carving, sometimes

you’ll see a rash of bubbles, really tiny

holes. On a Neoclassical sculpture, you’d

think, “How terrible.” But because my

work is more organic, I think, “That rash

Cage: Still Life, Box 1, 2011. Marble, 13.5 x 9.25

x 6 in.


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of bubbles is the most interesting part of this sculpture. I have to

note it in some way because it is air that was trapped millions and

millions of years ago.” Why not start to have a longer dialogue

with time?

RDC: Have you ever worked with a different stone, like granite?

ET: I mostly use marble because it’s strong enough to hold a form

and soft enough not to kill my arm and shoulder. I have cut into

granite, but I thought, “I’m patient but not that patient.” I admireanyone who uses that material.

RDC: You really test the limits of marble, regularly removing much

more than you leave behind. How do you know when to stop?

ET: It is incredibly scary. I have had nightmares thinking that

I could make a cut, but it would only last for about three days

before the force of gravity would be too much and it would crack.

It is a slow conversation, and some have broken. I think it has

to do with the memory of the stone, because the breaks happened

early on. The sculptures have supports, and when I took them

away, the sculptures broke. If I can’t intuitively feel how the

piece is being held, then it is going to break. I’ve pushed too

hard. There was one really beautiful piece, but it had a long neck

element; I should have cut the support right away and, then,

started carving. It’s a battle with gravity. You start to look at all

structures within that context.

RDC: Do you have the orientation in mind and carve with the block

always resting the same way? For example, if you are making a

vertical piece, do you carve it while the stone is vertical so the

gravitational pull is constant?ET: In the end, yes. Not originally. In the “Cages,” there is no real

sense of up and down, and it is much easier to look at the struc-

ture where there’s no definite, consistent pull. The magic is making

them feel as if they have that loss of solidity, and so, it’s about

the balance between how much you cut the structure and how

much you don’t. The terror for me has always been in the trans-

porting and installation.

RDC: You design all of the bases for your sculptures, and they are

as highly conceptualized as the sculptures themselves. What rela-

tionship between the two are you trying to develop?

ET: It’s all one. I don’t look at the base as a different object. The

ideas should be fluid. The way that it relates should bring out

the parallels and the paradoxes.

22 Sculpture 31.1

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Cage: Still Life, Sphere 2, 2011. Marble, 9 in. diameter.


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RDC: Paradoxes in material, in shape, in solidity?

ET: All of those. It should also bring into focus the different con-

ceptual aspects of the work. All of the objects are objects of con-

centration. I like scaling the art back down to a manageable size,

where you as a viewer are not overwhelmed. It’s an invitation for

a dialogue with the object, and the base brings it closer to you,at least in these new pieces, because I want that interaction.

RDC: Do you design the bases as you carve?

ET: Absolutely, because they should work together. For instance,

in the “Collars,” I wanted each collar to appear as if it were another

human being in the room. The work was positioned at a height

that allowed you to imagine yourself wearing it or talking to it.

With the “Cages,” we’re doing mirrored stainless bases, so I can

invite you to step up and look in and see your reflection within

the cage.

RDC: In your studio, I noticed a second series of slightly smaller

works in which you combine natural “found” stone with carved

marble. Is this a new direction for you?

ET: The stones are like worn pebbles, but they have quartz veins

running through them. I picked them up because I loved the idea

that they have ribbons in them. It’s just a different context: rather

than air, there is stone wrapped around the ribbon. It’s a beauti-

ful extension of how I was thinking. The stones paralleled the idea

of matter, or the emptiness of matter, and so I started playing

with them, just having them around the studio. As I began to

get into this series, they presented ideas around “intention,” “will

versus intention,” and “weight,” and I liked playing with thoseideas. I call these gesture sketches “Variations.”

RDC: Drawing also seems to be very important to your practice.

Do you consider it as preparatory work for your sculpture, a sepa-

rate practice, or perhaps a bit of both?

ET: Both. I love drawing. It is freedom for me. It prepares me for the

sculpture. It is the conceptual preparation. I start by bringing dif-

ferent ideas together through drawings and collages. For instance,

in collages, I’ll look at a matrix as seen in diagrammed sentences,

corporate structures, political systems, and biological patterns.

These structures are all very interesting because I am seeking

commonalities and new connections across seemingly disparate

ideas. I’ll try to bring a new perspective to concepts—tying them

together, exploring the possibilities of their visual intersections,


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Cage: Still Life, Sphere 3, 2011. Marble, 8 in. diameter.


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mapping their common matrices, and then I go to the studio and adapt my

structures. Marble is the traditional home of ideals, right? This is one side of

drawing that is very important.

Then, on an emotional level, after the exhaustion of the physical labor of

carving, the very quiet kind of studiousness in focused drawing is a relief, a

meditation. It is a subconscious form of drawing. It brings the complex ideas

or questions of the day into the matrix that I was studying before I left for

the studio. This way, I can feel the sculpture when I’m doing it and not over-

think. Finally, there are the very large, charcoal drawings, which are about

five feet high and three feet wide. I make these if I’m not carving stone. Or,

if I’m really dirty and not so exhausted, I’ll move from white dust to black. It

requires the same sort of physical energy, but different patterns emerge.

RDC: You have mentioned that you are interested in systems and matrices,

particularly in how one thing flows into the other. How does this translate

into your work?

ET: I’m not entirely sure where it came from. It’s been evolving my entire life.The evolution of this line of questioning is seen in my drawings and collages.

Perhaps the core question is why, as organic, curved, soft creatures, we think

and find a resonance in linear structures. Why do we live in square rooms

rather than round (well, in many places anyway)? Why is the structure of a

monarchy so effective? What do linear systems of order offer our minds and

our souls that complex curves and paradoxes do not? Our comfort with sys-

tems (of order, of communication) informs our palette of responses: emo-

tional and rational. This is why a study of systems, structures, and thus matri-

ces is infinitely intriguing to me.

It was so long ago when I began asking myself these questions. I suppose

the answers have simply moved through their own variations. They generate

a very layered perspective. For some reason, these thoughts are easier for me

to understand if I think of them in physical shapes—for instance, language

in terms of diagrammed forms. And I find the line of

questioning beautiful, because it pushes me to look

for the relationship between all things, the matrix of

how it all fits together. In the end, even the solidity

of the rock is not what it seems.RDC: In 2010, you received the prestigious MacArthur

Fellowship. How has that award changed your work?

ET: I’m incredibly grateful to have been invited into this

group of unbelievably optimistic and inspiring people.

I find that I want to incorporate so much of what they

are thinking about into my work that I’m challenged in

the most inspirational way. The beauty of it, for me, is

that it came at a time of such flux in the world, a very

serious time. To have an injection of that kind of opti-

mism is nothing short of miraculous; it’s hopeful. It’s

amazing to be with people who look at obstructions as

challenges, incredibly invigorating rather than depressing.

I’m trying to carry that attitude through to my own work.

24 Sculpture 31.1

© J O S H U A N E F K S Y , C O U R T E S Y H I R S C H L & A D L E R M O D E R N ,

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Above: Line #3, 2011. Marble, 10.5 x 10 x 11.625 in. Right: Ribbon #17 (Standing) (detail),

2008. Marble, 50 x 8 x 7 in.


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RDC: What is the greatest misconception about your

work?

ET: I wouldn’t say “misconception,” but people have

a barrier about my work in terms of craft. For me, the

idea of craft has been much more about ritual, almost

like Marina Abramović, and the idea of discipline on a

consistent level of repetitive action. We see it in reli-

gion, we see it in so much of human behavior, and yet

when it comes down to crafting an object, somehow

the concept has been lowered. Part of my challenge,

I think, is to reinvent some of the beauty of that aspect

and put it at a different level because it marries the

intellectual and a much more emotional response.

RDC: People think the work is too beautiful.

ET: It stops them. I’ve drawn attention to the object,

and that is purposefully done. But then I have the

challenge: “Now that you’re looking at the object,

expand your thought structurally,” and that’s hard

when there is so much focus on the object. But again,

part of that focus is because of the time it takes, and

that’s the ritual I want to communicate.

RDC: When you say that the mirrored pedestals allow viewers to see themselves within the “Cages” or that the

height of the “Collars” allows people to converse with

the work, your work begins to function conceptually.

Viewers move beyond just looking at the object and

begin to have a physical relationship with it.

ET: Exactly. I want to create conceptual pieces with

intimately carved, beautiful objects so that the indi-

vidual pieces can stand independently, but they become

something larger as a whole. That is something con-

sistent in all of the work.

Rebecca Dimling Cochran is a writer and curator based

in Atlanta.


Above: Ribbon #16 (Standing), 2008. Marble, 7 x 33 x 5 in. Left:

Ribbons #11, #13, and #10, 2007–08. Marble, installation view.

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P H O T

O C R E D I T


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P H O T

O C R E D I T

RanjaniShettar

Bird Song II, 2009. Stainless steel,

muslin dyed in pomegranate skin,

tamarind kernel, and lacquer, 48

x 44 x 51 in.

27

Playing with Creation

BY CHITRA

BALASUBRAMANIAM

C O U R

T E S Y T A L W A R G A L L E R Y , N Y / N E W

D E L H I


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Ranjani Shettar says that she turned from

painting to sculpture because “I realized

I had to move around the object, it had to

occupy the same space that I did and there

was no illusion in it. Although I was little

equipped for it, I knew that was what I

wanted.” That conceptual shift set the tone

for her ethereal but monumental installa-

tions combining natural and industrial

materials and modern and traditional

methods. Beginning with Thousand Room

House (2000), a hexagonal honeycomb

formed of pieced-together plastic, Shettar

has become well known around the world

for three-dimensional “drawings” in a host

of materials, including metal, wood,

beeswax, steel, cloth, lacquer, and, more

recently, bronze and steel.

As one walks around her sculptures and

installations, the first thought is of calm,

quiet beauty, a sense of timelessness.

Unusual combinations of materials achieve

a minimal, uncluttered aspect, the separate

elements simply blending and assimilating

into each other to create a composite whole.

Speaking of the process, Shettar says, �

sculpture magazine jan-feb 2012

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