The International Sculpture Center is proud to present the winners of the 2012 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Awards. This year’s program attracted a large number of nominees from university sculpture programs in North America and abroad.
Fragile Balances: A Conversation with Sarah Sze
Joyce Beckenstein: When Sculpture published a previous interview with you in 2003, your work was very different. In broad strokes, how would you characterize the changes? Sarah Sze: I came to art with more training in architecture and painting.
Etsuko Ichikawa: Fire and Water
Following what may be described as a coming-out event at Miami’s Art Basel in 2005, Seattle artist Etsuko Ichikawa has had a series of impressive solo exhibitions around the United States, capped in 2011 by two extensive shows, one at the University of Wyoming’s Museum of Art and the second at Seattle’s Davidson Gallery.
Yayoi Kusama: Social Transformation Through Infinite Multiplication
Entering Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—Filled with the Brilliance of Life (2011), as staged at Tate Modern, you found yourself in a darkened, boxed space filled with colorfully flashing, suspended lights. The walls were lined with mirrors and the floor filled with water.
Constance DeJong: Beauty, Bare
There is no escaping the impact of a fully realized and meticulously executed sculpture by leading New Mexico artist Constance DeJong. Her quintessential black pieces, which she calls her “Four/Three Series,” evoke what might be called a shudder.
John Ruppert: Staging Energy
Back in 1992, John Ruppert was cleaning out his studio and rolling up some chain-link fencing when it got away from him. When he caught it, the loose end fanned out into space. All of a sudden, he realized that this loosely woven material had a structure, and he became interested in its mobilization of
Animal Unrest
Adopting a disturbingly human posture, a hare constricts into a hieroglyph of anguish. Choking and gasping, a jackal succumbs to a muscle-locking spasm. Grimacing in a ghastly blend of snarl and plaintive cry, a disheveled possum peevishly limps away.
Eylem Aladogan: Iron Triggers That Could Be Released
Eylem Aladogan’s large-scale sculptural work recently emerged from the Dutch art world like a moth bursting from its cocoon, finding international exposure at the 12th Istanbul Biennial. Though her smaller work has appeared in Paris, Basel, Munich, Los Angeles, and New York, her major pieces had been exhibited only in Netherlands-based art museums such as
Klara Kristalova: Craft and the Subconscious
A new voice in sculpture, Klara Kristalova shapes subconscious and dark states of being. Her unique personalizations immerse the viewer in human and animal states of mind. She was a baby when her parents fled Czechoslovakia in 1968 and moved to Sweden.
Rene Rietmeyer: Time, Space, and Existence
Rene Rietmeyer creates abstract, three-dimensional wall objects that he calls “Boxes.” These works address his personal existence within time and space. Through formal means such as shape, color, texture, composition, and choice of materials, Rietmeyer visualizes his experiences of a certain region or a specific person encountered at a particular place and time.
