sculpture 2012 01-02

sculpture January/February 2012Vol. 31 No. 1A publication of theInternational Sculpture Centerwww.sculpture.orgElizabeth Turk Ayse ErkmenAllan 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 do

we 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 educators 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 Bourciers 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 in

Chicago 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 TrusteesChairman:Marc LeBaron, Lincoln, NE

Chakaia Booker, New York, NY

Robert 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, NEJohn Henry, Chattanooga, TN

Peter Hobart, Italy

Robert Vogele, Hinsdale, IL

Founder: Elden Tefft, Lawrence, KS

Lifetime Achievement inContemporary Sculpture RecipientsMagdalena Abakanowicz

Fletcher Benton

Louise Bourgeois

Anthony Caro

Elizabeth Catlett

John Chamberlain

Eduardo Chillida

Christo & Jeanne-Claude

Mark di Suvero

Richard Hunt

Phillip 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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Departments10 Itinerary

16 Commissions

72 ISC News

Reviews65 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.

Features18 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 Sad: Thinking in Time by Jonathan Goodman

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

40 Ayse Erkmens 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

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6 Sculpture 31.1

SCU LP TURE MAGAZ INEEditor Glenn HarperManaging Editor Twylene MoyerEditorial Assistants Elena Goukassian, Joshua ParkeyDesign Eileen Schramm visual communicationAdvertising Sales Manager Brenden OHanlonContributing Editors Maria Carolina Baulo (BuenosAires), Roger Boyce (Christchurch), Susan Canning (NewYork), Marty Carlock (Boston), Jan Garden Castro (NewYork), 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), BrianMcAvera (Belfast), Robert C. Morgan (New York), RobertPreece (Rotterdam), Brooke Kamin Rapaport (NewYork), Ken Scarlett (Melbourne), Peter Selz (Berkeley),Sarah Tanguy (Washington), Laura Tansini (Rome)

Each issue of Sculpture is indexed in The Art Index andthe Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA).

isc

Benefactors Circle ($100,000+)

Atlantic FoundationKaren & Robert DuncanJohn HenryJ. Seward Johnson, Jr.Johnson Art & Education FoundationJoshua S. KanterKanter Family FoundationGertrud & Heinz Kohler-AeschlimannMarc LeBaronLincoln IndustriesNational Endowment for the ArtsMary OShaughnessyI.A. OShaughnessy FoundationEstate of John A. RennaJon & Mary Shirley FoundationDr. & Mrs. Robert SlotkinBernar Venet

Chairmans Circle ($10,00049,999)Magdalena AbakanowiczAnonymous FoundationJanet BlockerBlue Star Contemporary Art CenterDebra Cafaro & Terrance LivingstonChelsea College of Art & DesignSir Anthony CaroClinton Family FundRichard CohenDon CoopermanDavid DiamondJarvis & Constance Doctorow Family FoundationGeraldine R. Dodge FoundationTerry & Robert EdwardsLin EmeryFred EychanerCarole FeuermanDoris & Donald FisherBill FitzGibbonsAlan GibbsDavid HandleyRichard HeinrichDaniel A. HendersonMichelle HobartPeter C. HobartJoyce & Seward Johnson FoundationKANEKORee & Jun KanekoMary Ann KeelerKeeler FoundationPhillip KingWilliam KingAnne Kohs AssociatesCynthia Madden Leitner/Museum of Outdoor Arts

Toby D. Lewis Philanthropic FundMarlene & Sandy LouchheimMarlborough GalleryPatricia MeadowsCreighton MichaelBarrie MowattManuel NeriNew Jersey Cultural TrustRalph OConnorFrances & Albert PaleyPatricia RenickPat Renick Gift FundHenry RichardsonMelody Sawyer RichardsonRuss RubertSalt Lake Art CenterCarol L. Sarosik & Shelley PadnosJune & Paul Schorr, IIIJudith SheaArmando SilvaKenneth & Katherine SnelsonSTRETCHMark di SuveroTakahisa SuzukiAylin TahinciogluSteinunn ThorarinsdottirTishman SpeyerBrian TuneUniversity of the Arts LondonBoaz VaadiaRobert E. VogeleGeorgia WellesElizabeth Erdreich White

Address all editorial correspondence to:Sculpture1633 Connecticut Avenue NW, 4th FloorWashington, DC 20009Phone: 202.234.0555, fax 202.234.2663E-mail: [email protected] On-Line on the InternationalSculpture Center Web site:www.sculpture.org

Advertising informationE-mail

I N T ERNAT IONAL SCULPTURE CENTER CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE C IRC 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 ERNAT IONAL SCULP TURE C ENT ERExecutive Director Johannah HutchisonConference and Events Manager Carla WattsConference and Events Coordinator Samantha RauscherOffice Manager Denise JesterExecutive Assistant Alyssa BrubakerGrant Writer/Development Coordinator Kara KaczmarzykMembership Manager Julie HainMembership Associate Emily FestWeb Manager Karin Jervert

ISC Headquarters19 Fairgrounds Road, Suite BHamilton, New Jersey 08619Phone: 609.689.1051, fax 609.689.1061E-mail: [email protected]

Major Donors ($50,00099,999)

Chakaia BookerFletcher BentonErik & Michele ChristiansenRob FisherRichard HuntRobert MangoldFred & Lena MeijerFrederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture ParkNew Jersey State Council on the ArtsPew Charitable TrustArnaldo PomodoroWalter SchatzWilliam TuckerNadine Witkin, Estate of Isaac WitkinMary & John Young






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 expandpublic 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 constituentsSculptors, Institutions, and Patrons; dialogueas the catalyst to innovation andunderstanding; educationas fundamental to personal, professional, and soci-etal growth; and communityas a place for encouragement and opportunity.

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

International Sculpture ConferencesThe ISCs 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 listof recent public art commissions and announcements of members accomplish-ments.

www.sculpture.orgThe ISCs 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.

Directors Circle ($5,0009,999)

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

This program is made possible inpart 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 AbernethyLinda Ackley-EakerD. James AdamsJohn AdduciOsman AkanMine AkinElizabeth AraliaDoris H. ArkinMichelle ArmitageArt ValleyUluhan AtacMichael AurbachHelenaBacardi-KielySarah Barnhart-FieldsBrooke BarrieJerry Ross BarrishCarlos BasantaFatma Basoglu-TakiiilBruce BeasleyJoseph BechererEdward BenaventeJoshua BedersonJoseph BeneveniaPatricia BengtsonJonesConstance BergforsEvan BerghanRonald BermanRoger BerryHenri BertrandCindy BillingsleyDenice BizotRita BlittChristian BoltMarina BonomiGilbert V. BoroLouise BourgeoisLinda BowdenJudithBritainWalter BruszewskiGil BruvelHal BucknerRuth M. BurinkH. Edward BurkeMaureen Burns-BowieKeith BushMary Pat ByrnePattieByronImel Sierra CabreraKati CasidaDavid CaudillJan ChenowethWon Jung ChoiAsherah CinnamonJohn ClementJonathan ClowesRobert ClyattMarco CochraneLynda ColeAustin CollinsRandy CooperJ. Laurence CostinFuller Cowles & Constance MayeronRobert CrowelAmir DaghighSukhdev DailTomasz DanilewiczArianne DarErich DavisMartin DawePaul A. DeansArabella DeckerAngel DelgadoG.S. DemirokAlbert DicruttaloAnthony DiFrancescoKaren DimitKonstantinDimopoulosMarylyn DintenfassDeborah Adams DoeringYvonne GaDomengeDorit DornierJim DoubledayPhilip S. DrillLaura Evans DurantCharles EisemannWard ElickerJorge ElizondoElaine EllisBob EmserRobert ErskineHelen EscobedoJohn W. EvansPhilip John EvettIsabelleFaucherJohann FeilacherZhang FengHelaman FergusonPattie PorterFirestoneTalley FisherTrue FisherDustine FolwarcznyBasil C. FrankMaryAnnella FrankGayle & Margaret FranzenDan FreemanJason FrizzellJames GallucciEliseo GarciaRon GardRonald GarriguesBeatriz

GerensteinShohini GhoshJames S. GibsonJacqueline GilmoreHelgiGislasonJoe GittermanEdmund GlassGlenn Green Galleries & SculptureGardenDeWitt GodfreyRoger GoldenYuebin GongGordon HuetherStudioThomas GottslebenTodd GrahamPeter GrayFrancis GreenburgerGabriele Poehlmann GrundigBarbara GrygutisSimon GudgeonThomasGussRoger HalliganWataru HamasakaMike HanselJens Ingvard HansenBob HaozousJacob J. HarmelingSusan HarrisonBarbara HashimotoSally HeplerKenneth HerlihyDavid B. HickmanJoyce HilliouKathrynHixsonBernard HoseyJack Howard-PotterBrad HoweJon Barlow HudsonRobert HuffKen HustonYoshitada IharaEve IngallsLucy IrvineJ. JohnsonGalleryJames Madison UniversityJivko JeliazkovJulia JitkoffAndrewJordanJohanna JordanWolfram KaltKent KarlssonRay KatzCorneliaKavanaghJan KeatingRobert E. KellyLita KelmensonOrest KeywanHitoshi KimuraGloria KischStephen KishelBernard KlevickasJacquelineKohosAdriana KorkosKrasl Art CenterJon KrawczykDave & Vicki KrecekKUBOLynn E. La CountDale LamphereAlexis LaurentHenry LautzWonLeeMichael Le GrandEvan LewisJohn R. LightKen LightRobertLindsayMarvin LipofskyRobert LonghurstSharon LoperCharles LovingJeff LoweHelen LykesLynden Sculpture GardenNoriaki MaedaMikeMajorAndrea MalaerJane ManusLenville MaxwellEdward MayerClaire McArdleWilliam McBrideIsabel McCallJeniffer McCandlessJosephMcDonnellCeci Cole McInturffSam McKinneyDarcy MeekerRonMehlmanGina MichaelsRuth Aizuss Migdal-BrownLowell MillerBrianMonaghanNorman MooneyRichard Moore, IIIJean-Pierre MorinAikoMoriokaDeeDee MorrisonKeld MoseholmSerge MozhnevskyW.W.MuellerAnna MurchRobert MurphyMorley MyersArnold Nadler

Marina NashNathan Manilow Sculpture ParkJohn NicolaiJames NickelDonald NoonJoseph OConnellThomas OHaraMichelle OMichaelThomasOstenbergFrank OzerekoPalmyra Sculpture CentreScott PalsceGertrudParkerRonald ParksTarunkumar PatelMark PattersonJolanta PawlakCarol PeligianBeverly PepperCathy & Troy PerryAnne & Doug PetersonDirk PetersonTerrance PlowrightDaniel PostellonBev PreciousJonathanQuickSemion RabinkovMorton RachofskyKimberly RadochiaMarcia RaffVicky RandallJeannette ReinChase RevelAnthony RicciEllie RileyRobert Webb Sculpture Garden/Creative Arts GuildKevin RobbAndrewRogersSalvatore RomanoCarol RossSusan Ferrari RowleyJames B. SaguiOlou Komlan SamuelNathan SawayaTom ScarffPeter SchifrinMarkSchlachterAndy ScottJohn SearlesJoseph H. SeipelArt SelfCarlosSetienMary ShafferPatrick ShannonKambiz SharifScott SherkJerryShoreDebra SilverDaniel SinclairVanessa L. SmithYvette Kaiser SmithSusan Smith-TreesStan SmoklerFrances SniffenSam SpiczkaJohnStallingsRobert St. CroixEric SteinLinda SteinEric StephensonMichaelStearnsElizabeth Strong-CuevasJozef SumichrastDavid SywalskiTashTaskaleCordell TaylorTimothy TaylorRichard TaylorPeter TerryAna ThielMarta ThomaPeter TilleyStephen TironeCliff TisdellRein TriefeldtJohnValpocelliJon Vander BloomenVasko VassilevMartine VaugelPhilipVaughanKathy VenterAles VeselyJill VineyBruce VoyceEd WalkerMartha WalkerSydney WallerBlake WardMark WarwickAndrew WhiteMichael WhitingPhilip WicklanderJohn WiederspanMadeline WienerW.K. Kellogg FoundationWesley WoffordJean WolffDr. Barnaby WrightJoan WynnCigdem YapanarRiva YaresAlbert YoungLarry YoungGenrichZafirSteve ZaluskiPeter ZandbergenGavin ZeiglerGlenn 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 ($350999)

Patrons Circle ($2,5004,999)Elizabeth CatlettChateau Ste. Michelle Winery

Moore College of Art & DesignMuseum of Arts & Design

Princeton University Art MuseumElisabeth Swanson

Doris & Peter TillesPhilipp von Matt

Friends Circle ($1,0002,499)

Ana & Gui AffonsoSydney & Walda BesthoffOtto 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 & Coosjevan Bruggen

Dennis OppenheimBill Roy

Doug SchatzMary Ellen ScherlSculpture Community/sculpture.net

SebastinEve & Fred SimonLisa & Tom SmithDuane Stranahan, Jr.

Roselyn SwigTateJulian TaubLaura ThorneHarry T. WilksIsaac WitkinRiva Yares Gallery









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10 Sculpture 31.1

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Es Baluard Museu dArt Moderni Contemporani de PalmaPalma, Majorca, SpainLos CarpinterosThrough January 22, 2012Renouncing the notion of individualauthorship, the Cuban collectiveLos Carpinteros returns to the collab-orative guild tradition. Remainingmembers Dagoberto Rodriguez andMarco Castillo take inspirationfrom the products of skilled, artisanal

labor, particularly architectural struc-tures, furniture and design objects,tools, and construction materials,though their often subversive worksalter the familiar to focus on thecontradictions between object andfunctionality, art and the everyday,practicality and uselessness. The foursculptures featured here (in addi-tion to wondrously morphing water-colors) include a bed contorted intothe shape of a pretzel, a miniaturepool/aircraft carrier, a missile frozenin place as it penetrates a wall, anda group of old-fashioned draftingtables covered with sheets of water.Tel: + 34 971 908 200Web site

Bass Museum of ArtMiami BeachErwin WurmThrough March 4, 2012Every time Wurm produces a sculp-ture from a real objectcars, pota-toes, cucumbers, pieces of clothinghe creates something strange andwonderful. Embracing the absurd,his work invites us to consider dif-ferent possibilities for the ordinaryand familiar. Experiments in perfor-mance, photography, installation,drawing, video, and text add anotherdimension, pushing the boundariesof sculpture (particularly in the

one-minute sculpture perfor-mances) by investigating elementsof time, mass, and material form.Many of the new large-scale sculp-tures in this show (including aDrinking Sculpture that only achievescompletion when the audience isdrunk) operate on a theatrical scale,inviting viewers to enter the per-vasive weirdness that lurks beneaththe surface of social norms andunquestioned conventions.Tel: 305.673.7530Web site

British MuseumLondonGrayson PerryThrough February 19, 2012Perry fuses art and craft into a multi-layered and complicated montageof high and low, serious and humor-ous, conventional and seditious. Inhis latest project, The Tomb of theUnknown Craftsman, the TurnerPrize-winning transvestite potter givesvoice to his inner artisan, thumbinghis nose at celebrity and staginga memorial to all the anonymouscraftsmen that over the centurieshave fashioned the manmade won-ders of the world. In addition tocreating new workvases, elaborate

tapestries, and a richly decoratedcast iron coffin-ship, he has plun-dered the museums vaults, selectinga wide array of astonishing objectsfrom the past two million yearsof human history, some funny, somepoetic, and some grim. In construct-ing this deeply felt homage to whatit means to makeas a calling andas a means of self-creation, irrespec-tive of recognitionPerry onceagain plays a double role, beneficiaryand decrier of the star system thathas plagued artists since the dayof the first signature.Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7323 8299Web site

Carnegie Museum of ArtPittsburghCathy WilkesThrough February 26, 2012A 2008 Turner Prize nominee, Wilkeshas raised eyebrows with her highlycharged arrangements of common-place items and personal artifacts.In Shes Pregnant Again, a TV com-bines with a sink containing humanhair, a half-naked mannequin, anda stroller in a tableau of almostaudible judgment. Formally preciseand 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.






employs a difficult and coded visuallanguage, making it what at leastone critic has called the kind ofcontemporary art that pundits paydeference to and that deep downnobody really likes. But uncompro-mising introspection is not an endin itself for Wilkes; as jarring as herwork can be, it exerts a strongpsychological pull that creates com-monality and shared experience fromisolation. Her first American museumexhibition demonstrates the powerbehind what she calls the unde-fined ancient force of history andmemory.Tel: 412.622.3131Web site

Castello di Rivoli(and other venues)TurinArte Povera 2011Through February 19, 2012Spanning the Italian peninsula fromBergamo to Bari, this grand-scaleretrospective of Arte Povera (eightshows in all) reunites its foundingtheorist, curator Germano Celant,with the artistsfrom Anselmo toZoriowhose work he christenedin 1967. Celants ambitious projectexamines this influential movement(Italys most important sinceFuturism) not only as a historicalexpression of socio-political unrest,but also as a vital impulse thatcontinues to grow and inspire newdirections. Three segments ofthe show are currently on view. ArtePovera International at the Castellodi Rivoli focuses on internationaldialogue and energy, juxtaposingworks by the movements exponentswith responses by (among others)Vito Acconci, Bernd and HillaBecher, Joseph Beuys, Bill Bollinger,Hanne Darboven, Rebecca Horn,Richard Long, Maria Nordman, andRobert Smithson. Arte Povera19672011, a detailed chronologyof the movements evolution,continues at the Triennale di Milanothrough January 29. Arte Povera in

teatro, at the Teatro Margherita inBari through March 4, features dra-matic installations in a fire-guttedStile Liberty theater, with new worksby Fabro, Anselmo, Marisa Merz,and Calzolari, as well as an encoreappearance of Kounelliss atmos-pheric, site-specific Untitled, createdfor the space in 2010.Web site,,

Doris C. Freedman PlazaNew YorkMichael SailstorferThrough February 19, 2012Sailstorfer revels in transformations,contextual shifts, and spatial appro-priations. His work reveals an acuteinterest in everyday things andmaterials from his immediate sur-roundings, as well as a fascinationwith the identity and history of hissources. Broken down into theircomponent parts, these items aredeformed, adapted, and re-assem-bled into powerful spatial installa-tions. Despite the seeming violence

of Sailstorfers approach, his objectsand installations, including his newcreation, Tornado (a densely packed,30-foot-high storm system madefrom truck tire inner tubes), radiatesentiment and compel emotionalresponse.Tel: 212.980.4575Web site

Haus der KunstMunichSculptural ActsThrough February 26, 2012Sculptural Acts features worksby six artists who focus on process.Responding to the characteristicsand 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

nellopera. Above: Jannis Kounellis,

Untitled. Both from Arte Povera 2011.

Left: Michael Sailstorfer, Tornado.

SAILSTORFER:JAMES

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itinerary

12 Sculpture 31.1

Kimberly Sexton create objects thatcarry the history of their making.Born of actionenveloping, tearing,folding, bending, and compressingtheir eccentric works reveal all,layer after layer of experimentation,accident, reversal, and correction.Tel: + 49 89 21127-113Web site

Kunsthal CharlottenborgCopenhagenSimon StarlingThrough January 22, 2012Starling, the winner of the 2005Turner Prize, is fascinated withprocessboth physical and intellec-tual. While playfully exploringthe links that connect craft, material,

and technique, his work also absorbsthe histories, contexts, and socialnuances of a locale or object. Asingle piece or operation can revealcountless contradictions. Partutopian visionary and part critic, hedescribes his work as the physicalmanifestation of a thought process.Uncovering hidden histories andrelationships while transformingone object or substance into another,his sculptures, installations, andpilgrimage-like journeys draw out anarray of ideas about nature, tech-nology, and economics. This exhibi-tion includes two recent worksexploring the notion of performance.The Excursion, a newly commis-

sioned work, features a special pup-pet play staged with the assistanceof Copenhagens Marionet Teatret.Tel: + 45 33 36 90 50Web site

Kunsthaus BregenzBregenz, AustriaValie ExportThrough January 22, 2012After more than four active decades,Export has taken her place as a keyprotagonist of media art. From herfirst works, in which she dropped herreal name and launched the ValieExport brand (named for the Austriancigarettes Smart Export), she hasbeen a maverick of shifting identitiesand role-playing. Through perfor-mances, photographs, actions, sculp-tures, texts, and installations, she

questions the place of women insociety, the boundaries between thehuman body and its environment,and social and cultural constraintsin addition to the impact of technicaland electronic media on perception,communication, and behavior. Thisunique retrospective draws onExports archive, made available forthe first time.Tel: + 43 55 74 4 85 94-0Web site

Kunstmuseum BernBern, SwitzerlandBerlinde De BruyckereThrough February 12, 2012Among contemporary artists, DeBruyckere is unique in her ability tosee beyond the form of the humanfigure and feel the body as unrelent-ing physicalitymeat, tissue,and sinew. Not since art imitatedthe miracle of the word made fleshhas an artist created such fullyenfleshed works. De Bruyckere, notsurprisingly, is fascinated withmedieval 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 Berhrung.

Top: Simon Starling, Project for a Mas-

querade (Hiroshima). Above: Berlinde

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finds a contemporary idiom for theMan of Sorrows, a cult image focusedon Christs wounds, his physicalsuffering, and hence the reality ofhis incarnation as a man. This exhi-bition puts her work in dialoguewith the paintings of Lucas Cranachand the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini(another controversial reinterpreterof religious imagery and moralcodes). The juxtaposition not onlyilluminates the tensions inherentin the devotional image, as sensualityfeeds compassion and carnal longingpenetrates mystical faith, butalso critiques todays ethical heresies(or sins against the flesh), from frigidmass media voyeurism to cold-blooded torture.Tel: + 41 31 328 09 44Web site

Museum of Contemporary ArtNorth MiamiMark HandforthThrough February 19, 2012Handforth creates out-of-this-worldencounters just a step away from theordinary. His sculptures transformeveryday elements of civic spacefrom lampposts and street signs totraffic cones, metal trash cans, andVespasinto distinctive personalitiesthat challenge perception. Re-scaledand distorted, behaving in decidedlyabnormal ways, these subtle intru-

sions skew rational perspectives,introducing a double-edged magicof wit and pathos that underminesthe complacency of the public realm.This exhibition, which features morethan 30 works, stays true toHandforths playful spirit, spilling outof the museum to infiltrate locationsthroughout South Florida.Tel: 305.893.6211Web site

Museum TinguelyBaselRobert BreerThrough January 29, 2012The roots of Breers groundbreakinganimation can be traced to anunlikely sourcethe reductive purityof Mondrians abstract grids. Lookingbeyond stable harmony to the shift-ing movements behind the stasis,Breer developed his own takeon hard-edge abstraction in whichirregular forms wrestle against eachother in a permanent state of unrest.This exhibition follows the courseof his obsession with motion, frompainting to film to another importantbody of work, the motion sculpturesor floats. Set loose in real timeand space, these simple, minimal

forms move at an almost impercep-tible speed, each in its own direction.Once they collide, they trace newpaths in an endless dance of comple-ment and contradiction, demon-strating the power of using one forceto define its opposite: movement tocounteract movement, pauseto dramatize speed, and solidity tovisualize flux.Tel: + 41 61 681 93 20Web site

Parco Arte ViventeTurinAndrea PolliThrough February 26, 2012Polli and collaborator Chuck Vargawork with atmospheric scientists todevelop systems for understandingweather, pollution, and climatechange through sound and visualiza-tion. Many of her works rely onsonification, a process that trans-

lates raw data (about everythingfrom sulfur dioxide, carbon monox-ide, and ozone pollution to light-ning, wave, and wind trends) intocompelling and understandableforms. Recent projects include a spa-tialized sonification of New Yorkstorms, a Web site tracking climatein Central Park, and a real-time soni-fication and visualization of weatherin the Arctic. This compelling surveyalso features two site-specificenvironmental installations. Breatherand Cloud Caran old Fiat 500 anda Fiat 126, chosen as nostalgic sym-bols of a once robust Italian econo-mygive visible form to air (and itscontaminants), demonstrating howsuch necessities can have a veryhigh cost for the environment.Tel: + 39 011 3182235Web site

BREER:CH.BER

NARDOT,

ROBER

TBREE

R,COURTESY

GBAGEN

CY,

PARIS

/PO

LLI:

PAVTO

RINO

Above: Robert Breer, Float. Top

right: Andrea Polli, Cloud Car. Right:

Mark Handforth, Rolling Stop.





itinerary

14 Sculpture 31.1

SIGNER

:EM

ILGRUBEN

MANN,COURTESY

GALERIE

MARTINJANDA,VIENNA/CURTISANDSE

GALL:BILYA

NADIM

ITROVA

/AI:COURTESY

THEARTIST

Sala de Arte Pblico SiqueirosMexico CityRoman SignerThrough January 29, 2012A master of the controlled accident,Signer gives a humorous twist tothe concept of cause and effect. Hisaction 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. Followingcarefully planned and strictly exe-cuted and documented procedures,he enacts and records explosions,collisions, and the projection ofobjects through spaceall in theinterest of creating emotionally andvisually compelling events dictatedby time, acceleration, and change.This show of representative worksalso features several new pieces,including an homage to David AlfaroSiqueiross colorful murals(Siqueiros, incidentally, coined theterm controlled accident), engi-neered by miniature helicopters ran-domly hurling paint onto the wallsof the museum, and Acht Sthle,which introduces fireworks into thegalleries to toy with the idea of self-destruction.Tel: + 5255 55 31 33 94Web site

Socrates Sculpture ParkLong Island City, New YorkEmerging Artist FellowshipExhibition 2011Through March 4, 2012EAF artists are selected through anopen call for proposals and awardeda grant and residency at Socratesoutdoor studio; for many, this is theirfirst opportunity to work outside ona large scale. This years works repre-sent a broad range of materials,methods, and subject matterfromthe ultimate in urban transparencyand an architectural view of hell to avitrine of artifacts from a lost world,a triumphal arch made of cast-offbricks, and a stone-cold flophouseshelter. Works by Cecile Chong, JoyCurtis, Nadja Frank, Ben Godward,Darren Goins, Ethan Greenbaum,Jesse A. Greenberg, Rachel Higgins,Roxanne Jackson, Hong Seon Jang,Jason Clay Lewis, Saul Melman, JoNigoghossian, Nick Paparone, DonPorcella, Jessica Segall, Walter

Benjamin Smith, Jean-Marc Super-ville Sovak, Nicolas Touron, andNichole van Beek are installedagainst the parks spectacular water-front view of the Manhattan skyline.Tel: 718.956.1819Web site

Taipei Fine Arts MuseumTaipeiAi WeiweiThrough January 29, 2012Its no surprise that Taiwan is hostingAis first major exhibition in theethnic Chinese world. Though hisdisappearance for 81 days earlierthis year and subsequent confine-ment to Beijing prevented his fullcollaboration (as was planned),such obstacles have only raised theprotest quotient of this aptly namedshow. Absent features 21 worksdating from 1982 to the present,encompassing the entire range ofAis eclectic outputphotography,video, ceramic and marble works,and altered antiquesevery pieceaimed at a different chamber inthe contradictory heart of Chineseculture. Probing relationshipsbetween past and present, authen-ticity and imitation, worthlessnessand value, freedom and oppression,these works push limits and defycensorship. (Good behavior, however,is guaranteed by a hand-sculptedsecurity camera.) Forever Bicycles, alabyrinthine new installation com-posed of 1,200 bikes continues thenuanced critique: every cut andre-assembled bike in the structure isthe product of the Shanghai ForeverCompany, a state-run concern.Ai says that the work representsthe changing face of his homeland,where the consuming drive forwealth runs roughshod over hum-bler values like equality.Tel: + 886 2 25957656Web site

Left: Roman Signer, Sandsule. Top

left: Joy Curtis, Hades. Top: Jessica

Segall, The Soft Finds a Central

Position. Both from EAF 2011. Above:

Ai Weiwei, Forever Bicycles.





Folke Kbberling and Martin KaltwasserThe Games Are Open

Vancouver, Canada

Berlin-based artists Folke Kbberling 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 villages brand-new condos. In their current

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

specifically with Vancouvers 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 Kbberling notes,

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

buildings. Although the commissioner, Other Sights, maintains that the

project 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.

Aeneas WilderUntitled #155

West Bretton, Wakefield, U.K.

Aeneas Wilders 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

KBBER

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/WILDER

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:COURTESY

YORKS

HIRESC

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commissionscommissions

Left: Folke Kbberling 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.





Untitled #155, one of Wilders most recent projects, was commissioned by

Yorkshire 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 parametersa door opens

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

stability, Wilders 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 countrys 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 Wilders 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.

Ball-Nogues StudioTable Cloth

Los Angeles

In the spring and summer of 2010, the University of California, Los Angeless

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 invited

to 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 rightone 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 musical

performances in the courtyard.

The congruity of Table Cloths 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


SCOTT

MAYORAL,

COURTESY

THEARTIST

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-resolutiondigital 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 .





____________

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 131, 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

OPP

OSITE:

ERIC

STONER

,COURTESY

HIRSC

HL&

ADLERMODER

N,NY/TH

ISPA

GE:

JOSH

UANEFKS

Y,COURTESY

HIRSC

HL&

ADLERMODER

N,NY

BY REBECCA DIMLING COCHRAN





20 Sculpture 31.1

Rebecca Dimling Cochran: You present yourwork thematically. Earlier series were titled

Wings, Collars, and Ribbons, and

your newest is Cages. How do these series

evolve?

Elizabeth Turk: Collars was really aboutthe 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, its 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. Thats the thread.

RDC: So, the Cages are consistent in thateach piece is entirely enclosed, all the way

around, whether in the shape of a circle,

a rectangle, or a square.

ET: Exactly. Its 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 linethat runs through and connects back to

itself?

ET:Many of them are, to play with the ideaof the infinite. A couple are bands, or circles,

and one is defined by three circles.

RDC: Each one is carved from marble, asolid 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

ER

ICSTONER

,COURTESY

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ADLERMODER

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





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,COURTESY

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did not start off in that direction, its 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. By

watching what is technologically possible,

you cant help but translate it into your

own workand 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 thats

not interesting to me. The undercuts and

whats 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

didnt 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 the

building frame]. Its cool to think thats

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

youll see a rash of bubbles, really tiny

holes. On a Neoclassical sculpture, youd

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.





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 its strong enough to hold a formand soft enough not to kill my arm and shoulder. I have cut into

granite, but I thought, Im patient but not that patient. I admire

anyone who uses that material.

RDC: You really test the limits of marble, regularly removing muchmore than you leave behind. How do you know when to stop?

ET: It is incredibly scary. I have had nightmares thinking thatI 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 cant intuitively feel how the

piece is being held, then it is going to break. Ive 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. Its 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 blockalways 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 realsense of up and down, and it is much easier to look at the struc-

ture where theres no definite, consistent pull. The magic is making

them feel as if they have that loss of solidity, and so, its about

the balance between how much you cut the structure and how

much you dont. 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 areas highly conceptualized as the sculptures themselves. What rela-

tionship between the two are you trying to develop?

ET: Its all one. I dont look at the base as a different object. Theideas 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.





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. Its 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, were 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 smallerworks 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. Its just a different context: rather

than air, there is stone wrapped around the ribbon. Its 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 those

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

ferent ideas together through drawings and collages. For instance,

in collages, Ill 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. Ill try to bring a new perspective to conceptstying them

together, exploring the possibilities of their visual intersections,


ER

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





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 Im 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 Im not carving stone. Or,

if Im really dirty and not so exhausted, Ill 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: Im not entirely sure where it came from. Its 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 shapesfor 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 MacArthurFellowship. How has that award changed your work?

ET: Im incredibly grateful to have been invited into thisgroup 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 Im 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; its hopeful. Its

amazing to be with people who look at obstructions as

challenges, incredibly invigorating rather than depressing.

Im trying to carry that attitude through to my own work.

24 Sculpture 31.1

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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.





RDC: What is the greatest misconception about yourwork?

ET: I wouldnt say misconception, but people havea barrier about my work in terms of craft. For me, the

idea of craft has been much more about ritual, almost

like Marina Abramovic, 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. Ive drawn attention to the object,and that is purposefully done. But then I have the

challenge: Now that youre looking at the object,

expand your thought structurally, and thats hard

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

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

thats the ritual I want to communicate.

RDC: When you say that the mirrored pedestals allowviewers 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 withintimately 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, 200708. Marble, installation view.

JOSH

UANEFKS

Y,COURTESY

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ADLERMODER

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PHOTO

CRED

IT





PHOTO

CRED

IT

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 CHITRABALASUBRAMANIAM

COURTESY

TALW

ARGALLER

Y,NY/NEW

DELHI





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, I

take a very long time to make a sculpture;

the incubation period between having an

idea and making an artwork is quite long.

In that time, certain things get added, cer-

tain things get eliminated. It gets more

refined. Thinking through the idea usually

takes a few years. Her work is shaped by

observations of life around her in Bangalore

and in small towns across the state of

Kamataka, but inspirations from nature

also abound, most evidently in Vasanta

(2004), a work in beeswax and tea-dyed

string that recalls spring, as well as the

melodious raga of the same name.

Entering the space of Scent of a Sound

(201011), one instantly feels a connection

with the outdoors, reminiscent of a walk

through the forest. The installation combines

steel and muslin treated with tamarind

paste and lacquer. Shettar explains that

the shape or drawing in this case was linear;

but in my mind, it was a three-dimensional,

very visual piece. The result is an extremely

wispy, fragile-looking, but surprisingly stur-

dy creation. The title marries two different

sensory functions: Shettar wanted to give

physical form to intangible sound and smell.

Floral scents and repeating musical notes

stimulate the mind and fill the senses. The

elusive concept takes a different form each

time the work is installed. In terms of mate-

rial, Scent of a Sound builds on earlier works

such as the Bird Song series (2009) and

Sun-sneezers blow light bubbles (200708),

both of which use the same materials in

different ways.

Shettar says of Sun-sneezers blow light

bubbles, When I thought of the work,

because of the visual effect I wanted to

achieve, rawhide seemed the best option.

However, since rawhide did not go with my

philosophy of using materials, I started on

a journey to find an alternative material

that did not involve violence. She found an

28 Sculpture 31.1

Scent of a Sound, 201011. Stainless steel, muslin,

tamarind powder paste, and lacquer, 224 x 190 x

132 in.

Sun-sneezers blow light bubbles, 200708. Stainless

steel, muslin, tamarind powder paste, and lacquer,

16 x 24 x 14 ft. COURTESY

TALW

ARGALLER

Y,NY/NEW

DELHI





answer during a visit to observe the craft

tradition in Kinhal, a small town where icons

are made using sawdust and tamarind

paste. For Shettar, the traditional technique

found a new voice in combination with

steel. Sun-sneezers blow light bubbles pre-

sents the innocence of a child blowing bub-

bles, as well as a laid-back spirit of simple

enjoyment. As she says, I associate my

sculptures with happier moments of life.

Shettar keeps returning to the same

materials, testing and extending their for-

mal possibilities. She works with various

materials simultaneously, the commonality

being ideas and their interpretation. For

example, the rosewood Stretch (2010) hap-

pened simultaneously with the outdoor

bronze Maquette (2010), which has a lan-

guid feeling that Shettar describes as a lin-

ear and stretched form with an animated

elastic quality. The idea for Stretch came

from the shape of a log that she bought.

Her carving goes with the shape of the

wood, following the grain closely. The mate-

rial becomes a conduit for the form.

Maquette provided the idea for Aureole

(2010), of which Shettar says, I wanted to

have these structures on the wall that

looked incredibly light, but the irony is that

the whole thing is very heavy, it is bronze.


Right: Aureole, 2010. Cast bronze, dimensions

variable. Below: Liquid Walk on My Wall, 2008.

Burmese teak, wax polish, and lacquered wood,

dimensions variable.

COURTESY

TALW

ARGALLER

Y,NY/NEW

DELHI





The idea began with two-dimensional draw-

ings that evolved into three dimensions as

the piece progressed. After the wax models

were made, Shettar recalls, Everything

came together. The piece has a very flimsy

quality, as if it were just fading away or dis-

appearing. It has multiple starting points:

a soft angular geometric interior and an

idea of growth on the wall. The title is apt,

drawn from the suns halo, which remains

visible during an eclipse. She says that

installing Aureole, particularly getting the

lighting right, poses a difficult challenge.

Shettars foray into bronze is recent; she

began researching the material about two

years ago. Her technique is an adaptation

of lost-wax casting, which involves creating

funnels and channels through which liquid

wax is poured out and molten metal poured

in. The channels are usually removed from

the final form, but in Shettars work, the

channels and conduits become the main

structural form.

Shettar has worked extensively with lac-

quered wooden beads in works such as In

Bloom (2004) and Lagoon (2011). Lagoon,

which also features glass beads, fishing line,

and pigment, creates a gorgeous play of

lush color across suspended forms. Lighting

adds additional layers of shadow and lumi-

nosity. Shettar has furthered this concept in

her creations for a show at the Herms

Foundation Singapore, including the stun-

ning Flame of the Forest (2011), which uses

lacquered and carved wood. Woodcarving

also played a part in the earlier Liquid Walk

on My Wall (2008), but on a smaller scale.

The new work demonstrates a sense of pro-

gression and comfort with the material.

Another prominent pursuit in Shettars

work has been giving form to energy, as in

the Kinetics series (2009), three sculptures

inspired by tools in the artists studio. The

works also draw on a childhood experience.

Shettar recalls that when she was growing

up, We were given candy strung on a piece

of thread, and one would go on playing with

it and licking it. She captures the motion of

30 Sculpture 31.1

Lagoon, 2011. Lacquered wooden beads, glass

beads, fishing line, and pigment, 72 x 72 x 98 in.

Flame of the Forest, 2011. Carved teak, lacquered

wood, and pigments, 24 x 24 x 11.5 in. COURTESY

TALW

ARGALLER

Y,NY/NEW

DELHI





moving thread brilliantly in metal, giving a

three-dimensional form to an ineffable con-

cept. A similar fluid geometry can be seen

inMe, No, Not Me, Buy Me, Eat Me, Wear

Me, Have Me, Me, No, Not Me (200607),

which is made of used car bodies.

One of Shettars most expressive mediums

is beeswaxa difficult material to work with

in India, given the climatic conditions.

Explaining its properties, she says, I love

beeswax; like wood, good-quality beeswax

can withstand temperature unless exposed

to direct sunlight. It is a very durable materi-

al, free from insects. It has immediacy and

malleability, though it is hard to come by.

One does not lose even a thumb impression,

everything is translated and everything is

present. It is a material in transition, which

would come out in the form of metal as in

bronze casting. I like the translucence and

immediacy of the material, though it took

several years to convince myself that I could

work with it. She explores beeswax further

in her show (on view through February 26)

at the National Art Gallery of Victoria, in

Melbourne, Australia. The largest exhibition

of her work to date, Dewdrops and Sun-

shine includes seven works.

What materials or inspiration will Shettar

turn to next? She shrugs, saying, I dont

know where I might land and what will come

out. I dont know if I will do the same series

againif I can add to it, I will go back to it.

Chitra Balasubramaniam is a writer living

in New Delhi.


Above: Just a Bit More, 2006. Hand-molded beeswax, pigments, and thread dyed in tea, detail of installation. Below: Touch Me Not, 200607. Lacquered wooden

beads, pigments, and stainless steel, 432 x 96 x 6 in.

COURTESY

TALW

ARGALLER

Y,NY/NEW

DELHI





Shuli Sad, an Israeli-born, New York-based artist, specializes in working across the

interstices of art categories. Most often, her work has to do with photography and

video, but her images also explore the boundaries of two-dimensional and three-dimen-

sional form. Sads installations may look like orderly constructions, yet the experience

that informs them is intuitive and often personaldespite the fact that their arrange-

ments on wall and floor are right-angled and rational. Thus, there is a contrast or ten-

sion between the feelings prompted by Sads work and the upright system through

which her emotions are communicated. The demands of her constructions are essen-

tially architecturalSad has often worked as an architectural photographerand this

gives her sensibility a formal edge, even a distance, intended to mediate between her

distinctive sensibility and its rigorous conditions of being. A lover of citiesone of

her most interesting projects has been to photograph courtyards in Budapest, where

her parents originatedshe has been inspired by the experience of New York, where

she has lived for 25 years. COURTESY

CYN

THIA

REEVES

GALLER

Y,NY

Shuli Sad Thinking in Time

BY JONATHAN GOODMAN





Urban movementthe forward motion of cars, trains, and

subwaysremains a central theme in Sads practice. Her videos

stand out for the freedom of movement that informs both artist

and audience. Shooting videos from a train window, she is liter-

ally a bit ahead of herself. Her icons of perception address the

future in the sense that they project optimism and continuity

balanced by reciprocity with what comes nextas one might

imagine, it is a naturally mysterious stance because no one knows

what will happen in times to come. For this reason, Sads strengths

in photography and video are increased by how she arranges her

installations on the ground or in sequence across the wall; they

possess, not only in their imagery but also in the conditions of

their construction, the attraction of architecturethey require

duration, an attribute indicative of time passing, as a prerequi-

site for the viewers experience.

The forward pitch of Sads work demands a visionary stance

not only on her part, but also on that of viewers. As she puts it,

I am interested in construction and demolition as stages of doc-

umenting time.* In her attempts to negotiate the future, Sad

takes architecture as a major field of interest: I was drawn to work

with space and structure early on. Architecture is significantly

inspirational to my work. New York made it a signature of my work,

as I am constantly surrounded by architecture, old and new. She

sees architecture as functional monumental sculpture, a view

in which architecture, a highly public art, melds with sculpture,

a plastic art as much at home in private as public space. This merger

can also be found in the arrangement of her imagery: I am

interested in a stretch beyond the boundaries of a single medium.

Installation is a tool I chose to use from early on because it has

the space for experimentation of interdisciplinary collaborations

between media and ideas. Such an approach is highly contem-

porary; much of what is interesting in art today crosses boundaries

defining and supposedly separating one medium from the next.

By its very nature, the experience of sculpture requires dura-

tionthe three-dimensional object is always an experiment in time.

Sad, who came of age as an artist in the 70s, looks to Minimalisms

expectation of viewer reaction as key to the experience. She

comments, The viewer is a part of the creative process using

her body, walking through or around the installation. By shifting

angles with the piece, [viewers] create personal relations with it.

This is the same process used by the Minimalists: the viewers

experience over time completes the works aesthetic effect. Space,

too, remains central to Sads sensibility. In an early work, Touch-

ing Space (1979), she stands in a warrior pose in the center of a

gallery, the shadow of her body reflected on three walls, so that

her form possesses solidity, shaping space into form. While the

work clearly relates to performance art, it is also a meditation

on the bodys three-dimensional presencethat is, its ability to

project a sense of solidity beyond physical boundaries.

Sad works not only in minimal terms, but also with minimal

materials. In addition to her bodywork, which can be called living

sculpture, she works with ethereal elements in space: light, sound,

movement, and arrested images. By merging these components

of her work, Sad comes close to totalizing the viewers involvement.

Indeed, the physical activity of the viewer becomes as important

as the sculpture itself. In what Sad calls a post-material environ-

ment, much work is highly situation-specific, referring both to

the si

sculpture 2012 01-02

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