In 1959, Bard College suspended Carolee Schneemann—for “moral turpitude,” she says. “I painted a full-length frontal nude portrait of my partner, James Tenney.”1 It wasn’t until the early ’70s that Erica Jong could write Fear of Flying, extolling the “zipless fuck,” and Judy Chicago begin her iconic feminist installation, The Dinner Party.
Paul McCarthy: Rotten to the Core
Paul McCarthy’s exhibition at Hauser & Wirth’s gigantic 18th Street space included sculpture carved out of blocks of walnut that were pieced together from dark and lighter segments of wood. From these composite blocks, McCarthy produced medium-size to colossal tchotchkes (a genre that is dear to him), thereby entering the arena in which Jeff Koons
Finding Love: A Conversation with Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama’s rise to the top ranks of the art world has been hard won. A precocious young artist trained in Nihonga cultural traditions in Matsumoto, Japan, she displayed an original vision. Her imaginative use of oil paint and other materials, and her intuitive grasp of abstraction, led to solo shows in her native town
Mind, Body, and Language: A Conversation with Mark Manders
“I’ve often heard that it’s very difficult to write about my work,” Mark Manders told me, “but I think my work is very clear.” In business discourse, there’s something called the “sweet spot,” when a product or service is strategically placed in between things and results in success.
The Drama of Proportion: A Conversation with Matthew Barney
River of Fundament: Khu, 2014. Production still Matthew Barney is a prolific sculptor. Known for his Cremaster Cycle and “Drawing Restraint” series, he has been taking materials and processes into unknown territories for more than 25 years.
Leonardo Damonte: Order Within Order
Workplace, 2013. Mixed media, 200 x 200 x 60 cm. Leonardo Damonte, a young Argentinian sculptor, had his first solo exhibition at the Sicart Gallery, in Barcelona in 2007; just one year later, he received his first international award—first prize at the Art Biennial of Bahía Blanca in Argentina.
Welcome to the Jungle: A Conversation with Lucía Falconí
Born in Ecuador, Lucía Falconí, who studied and lived for years in Germany, embodies the global concerns of many contemporary artists while retaining a very specific and sensitive connection to her own heritage. Rainforest imagery—huge leaves, exotic plants, and birds—becomes a metaphor for a changing physical and social environment.
Steel Fluency: A Conversation with John Clement
John Clement is a mid-career sculptor whose studio is now located in Long Island City, Queens; until recently, he had been working at an outdoor studio in Bushwick. The new space is across the street from Mark di Suvero’s workshop, where Clement learned the basics of welding metal sculpture some two decades ago.
Ursula von Rydingsvard: Post-Emerging
Ursula von Rydingsvard was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center in 2014. For a full list of Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, click here. Ursula von Rydingsvard is “just getting over not being called an emerging artist.”
Material Splendor: A Conversation with Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Finding rats in the gallery is not usually cause for celebration at an art opening, but such was the case for Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva’s installation Silentio Pathologia (2013) at the Macedonian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. Hadzi-Vasileva has been pushing the boundaries of unusual art “materials” for some time, using salmon and chicken skins, silk worm
