One could say that the history of humankind has unfolded between earth and sky, because sitting, standing, lying down—moving or static—the human body takes up space; it informs and activates any environment, physically as well as socially and spiritually.
Of Monument and Moment: Huma Bhabha’s Cinema of Decay
Huma Bhabha often cites the influence of Auguste Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais, a work that, like her own, achieves its dramatic effect by joining monumentality and spectacle. Just as there are many ways of seeing Rodin’s tragic yet heroic burghers, Bhabha’s sculptures and installations defy fixed perspectives, their narrative fluidity forming, in almost cinematic
Imperfect Machines and Atmospheres: A Conversation with Andrew Drummond
Since the early 1970s, Andrew Drummond has created individual performance pieces, sculptures, and installations of consistent power, elegance, and invention. His work engages a dynamic multiplicity of visual sensations that transfigure and challenge the viewer emotionally and mentally, almost to the point of lassitude.
Focus: Public Art Practice in Berlin
Berlin ranks high among the world’s urban centers. What makes this city so special, so worth living in or visiting? Perhaps it is the rewarding experience of feeling a sense of place. Successful cities are attractive because significance of place, particularly unique artistic and cultural attractions, sets them apart.
I Want Your Imagination: A Conversation with Kris Martin
Time is the primary motive in the practice of Belgian conceptual artist Kris Martin. Convinced that material can carry thoughts, Martin uses well-known or everyday objects in a defamiliarizing way. For instance, in Mandi VIII (2006), he gives us a Laocoön in which the source of pain has been removed, leaving the three figures to struggle with an invisible,
Nina Levitt: Re-presenting Enigmatic Women
Inspired by the heroic women who worked in intelligence during the Second World War, Nina Levitt has produced a trilogy of related works, beginning with Little Breeze (2002–04), an installation based on Camp X, a secret wartime facility for training intelligence officers in Oshawa, Ontario.
Random Observations Regarding Futurist Sculpture
Futurism is 100 years old this year, yet there is barely a sign of the rambunctious movement having mellowed with age. Exhibitions in Paris, Milan, Venice, and London celebrating the centenary have only added to the many open questions that still remain to be answered.
Physical States of Being: A Conversation with Carole Feuerman
Carole Feuerman has been working and exhibiting at “full speed ahead” for four decades. Over the last 10 years, with the growth of international biennials and art fairs, her international reputation has grown by leaps and bounds.
Thinking Through Objects: Malia Jensen
Malia Jensen has emerged from a generation of younger sculptors who express content through a language of hybrid objects, rather than continuing last century’s aesthetic exploration of art about art. Her recent exhibition “Conjunctions,” at the Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, forged adroit combinations of materials and meanings to fabricate sculpture of physical, conceptual, and
Mobile Homes: A Conversation with Casey McGuire
Casey McGuire combines moving imagery of her own body, often in vulnerable positions, with architectural and animal forms to create installations whose atmosphere is both alluring and disconcerting. An Honorable Mention recipient of the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Awards for her “Sand Mandala Series” (Sculpture, October 2005), McGuire was an
