Momoyo Torimitsu says that she is a bit tired of being remembered for Jiro Miyata (1994), a life-sized robot she based on a middle-aged salaryman. But who could forget? Miyata, which Torimitsu had crawl around the streets of Tokyo, Paris, New York, and other cities, brilliantly embodied a hard-working, misunderstood, badly dressed everyman of the post-bubble era
What’s the Point? A Conversation with Marcus Bering
Some viewers of contemporary art, particularly Minimalist art, have been known to ask the question, “What’s the point?” but it is highly unusual for artists themselves to raise the issue. However, such is the case with German artist Marcus Bering, whose minimalistic work draws from a variety of influences ranging from the thoughts, actions, and
Ed Zelenak: Mapping the Allegory
While Ed Zelenak’s sculpture seems to reflect that intense period when Pop Art and Minimalism occupied center stage on the arts scene, in hindsight one realizes that his works are highly individuated, with a narrative element, some allusions to science, and even allegorical elements.
Andreas Slominski: The Wisdom and Cunning of the Trap-maker
The motif of making and setting traps has fascinated German artist Andreas Slominski since 1984, when (as the story goes) he discovered a metal trap for voles in a shop. As he explored the trap’s mechanism, he realized that this type of device not only had important plastic qualities, but that it also offered him
Don Porcaro: The Monster and the Child
New York-based sculptor Don Porcaro makes intriguingly shaped, highly enjoyable art from industrial mixed media—concrete, metal, and paint. His whimsical, off-beat forms speak to a humorous view of life, a combination of what he has described as “the monster and the child.”
Salvatore Romano: The Poetic Counterpoint in American Sculpture
There is a certain quality of the existential bon vivant in the work of Salvatore Romano, or maybe he is just a good American pragmatist whose sculpture suggests playfulness in the inventive manner of Arp and Calder.
Hakone Open-Air Museum: Sculpture in the Mountains of Japan
Hakone Open-Air Museum, established in 1969, was the first sculpture park in Japan and the second outdoor collection of sculpture in the world (the first being the Middleheim Museum of Sculpture at Arnheim, Belgium, founded in 1950).
In the Open Air: The NMAC Foundation
The discovery of open-air contemporary art in a region as magnificent as Spain’s Costa de la Luz is indeed a unique experience. For five years, the Fondación Montenmedio Arte Contemporáneo (NMAC) has opened its doors to the general public, offering a chance to view in-situ works from its collection all year round.
Modern Sublime: A Conversation with Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor’s extraordinary projects have captured the imagination of the world. The sculptures that brought him to international attention in the 1980s were geometric and biomorphic configurations, covered with intensely colored powdered pigment. Since then he has developed a distinctive body of work using a wide range of materials, from natural substances to products of
Robert Bielat: Absorbing Sculpture
In a contemporary art world seemingly devoted to the dictates of the market and the novelty that feeds it, the slow process of aesthetic maturation too often goes under-appreciated. Now pushing 60, Detroit sculptor Robert Bielat makes the case for recognizing the importance of mastery gained through material practice in the development of an artist’s
