Is resistance possible? Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn still thinks so, according to the texts that permeated his giant cave of an installation at the 54th Venice Biennale. That Switzerland chose Hirschhorn as its official representative demonstrates a remarkable rapprochement, or at least détente, between an artist whose stated aim is to provoke and a government
Eunsuh Choi: Crystal Clear Dreams
Glass is rarely the medium of choice for large-scale sculpture. Yet Korean artist Eunsuh Choi defies expectations and assumed limitations, exploiting this fragile material at a grand scale to achieve qualities unimaginable in marble, bronze, clay, or wood.
James Surls: Paradox Is All We Have
James Surls is an artist of remarkable power and mystery. His wood, bronze, and steel sculptures evoke a sense of ancient, present, and future worlds, from earthly landscapes to outer space, from visible nature to the inner eye.
Four from Miami: McKnight, Sardi, Thiele, and Vapor
Put aside Miami’s devotion to epidermality. Ignore the swan migrations of its art fairs and a current, hyped art scene stenciled, in setting and content, from Manhattan templates. That Sargassopolis should have lifted precariously from a low-lying wetland beside a stormy sea will be seen as a high watermark in the history of urban vanity.
Christopher Janney: Defying Dimensions
Christopher Janney knows few limits in his work beyond the speed of light and our ability to hear sound. He defies the idea of dimension, though in almost every case, his interventions help shape, or at least define, the space they inhabit—not really a contradiction in terms.
Lin Emery: Unique Forms of Continuity in Space and Time
Originality has an inside and an outside. Understanding the nature of originality in sculpture requires an understanding of both—of the inside, what it is in the sculptor’s life that created her artistic personality, and the outside, what sets her work apart from that of other artists of similar inclination.
Classicism, Romanticism, and Other Sculptural Ideals at Gibbs Farm
Just north of Auckland, around a stretch of land known as Gibbs Farm, hills pronounced by endless gullies command a vast stretch of majestic coastal flatland. The landscape, known as the Kaipara Harbor, bears the mark of countless sojourns by past inhabitants, its steep, lolloping hills holding memories of sanguinary battles.
Lin Tianmiao: The Feminine As It Is and Might Be
It is not hard to understand why Lin Tianmiao is considered one of the leading female sculptors in China: she fashions memorable work that has to do with the female body and mind. Although Lin would be quick to downplay the significance of her role in contemporary art, she has built a career and a
John Gibbons: Abstraction and Being Human
Visitors entering London’s National Portrait Gallery during the eight months between mid-September 2009 and mid-May 2010 were confronted by five mysterious, wall-mounted objects at the top of the long stair leading to the second-floor galleries. “John Gibbons: Portraits” was part of NPG curator Paul Moorhouse’s “Interventions Series,” a program focusing on “20th-century artists who have
Wurrungwuri: Chris Booth at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens
New Zealand artist Chris Booth recently completed a massive installation of undulating sandstone at the Royal Botanic Gardens—350 tons of rock cascading downhill along the shores of Sydney harbor. The wave-like form is an impressive 22 meters long and rises, at its highest, three meters above ground level (not high enough to intimidate the children
