“The work of González is one of the most solid and most beautiful elements in the future edifice the younger generation is building, though generally unrecognized in Spain, where only his imitators are known.”1 This observation about Julio González’s lack of recognition in Spain could until very recently have applied to most countries.
Pushing the Structure: A Conversation with Nancy Rubins
Nancy Rubins, born in Naples, Texas, and now living and working in Topanga Canyon, California, has been creating gigantic sculptural installations since the early ’80s using various discarded objects such as airplane parts and cut-up boats.
Looking at the Overlooked: 19th-Century Italian Sculpture
Sculpture always lags behind painting in the mind of the art-interested public. We have been brainwashed into Monet-theism, and the mere mention of Impressionism makes our hearts beat faster. But with the exception of Rodin, French sculpture of the Impressionist period is still ignored by all but a small handful of specialists.
Beauty is the Will for Truth: A Conversation with Thomas Hirschhorn
Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, who was born in 1957, ranks among the most distinctive sculptors of his generation. He gained attention in the mid-1990s with his walkable thought-and-event spaces. He does not appreciate his works being referred to as installations.
Intraculture Sculpture: A Conversation with Chris Booth
Born in Kerikeri, New Zealand, in 1948, Chris Booth has pursued sculpture associated with the land, earth forms, and indigenous peoples of the regions where he has worked. He received his initial education at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and then branched out to study with various sculptors in Europe, including Barbara Hepworth,
Dario Robleto: The Phantasm of Matter
In Dario Robleto’s world, nothing is at it seems: bone is vinyl, hair is magnetic tape, flowers are paper, skeletons are filled with a marrow of Sylvia Plath reciting her poetry. His touch is so deft, so light, that many casual viewers mistake the sculptures for found-object collage.
Phong Bui: Reviving a Sense of Wholeness
At a party sometime in the late ’80s I heard a critic proclaim that it was improper to discuss an artist’s personality in relation to his work: the focus should be on the art alone. T.S.
Universal Resonances: A Conversation with Berlinde de Bruyckere
Berlinde De Bruyckere does not pull punches. When many artists of her generation more or less loudly proclaim their emotional detachment, she feels compelled to tackle weighty universals such as loneliness, pain, and death. The fact that few other artists explore this terrain as creatively and successfully explains in part her impressive exhibition history.
Iole Alessandrini: Shaping Light and Space
The Italian architect Iole Alessandrini, who has lived in Seattle since 1996, has completed eight temporary installations in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue, Washington, as well as in Brooklyn, New York. By transforming recycled or disused building sites, the 35-year-old artist has distinguished herself from other architects who have jumped on the public art bandwagon in
Doing What I Don’t Know: A Conversation with Anthony Caro
Anthony Caro (b. 1924), one of the world’s greatest sculptors, first achieved widespread recognition in the 1960s by revolutionizing accepted sculptural concepts. Although he is best known for his large-scale abstract works in steel, his more recent sculptural language has evolved into powerful installations of numerous components, as seen in works like The Barbarians and
