New York
David Zwirner
When the Victorian poet Robert Browning coined the phrase “less is more” in a poem about the painter Andrea del Sarto, he could not have known how apt it would be in regard to the string sculptures of Fred Sandback. A stylistic colleague of the Minimalist sculptors of the 1960s and ’70s, Sandback evolved a language that made the most out of acrylic yarn, a highly humble material. This show, which featured works from 1968 to 2000, included a reconstruction of the Galerie Heiner Friedrich in Munich, a space for which Sandback designed many works in the 1960s and 1970s. Consisting of acrylic yarn used to divide inner spaces, these sculptures were reduced to the sparest means possible. But their complexity was—and is—extraordinary, despite the fact that viewers might be perplexed by the sheer lack of physical materials. One uses the adjective “physical” because the lines define and carve up space, subtly moving visitors through their orientation. The decision to reproduce the German gallery’s space was both inspired and scholarly. It keeps alive a remarkable installation in which Sandback really put his creativity to use. Untitled (Sculptural Study, Four-part Mikado Construction) (1991/ 2012) consists of four aqua-colored, acrylic yarn cords, set up in a large space (Mikado refers to the game of pick-up sticks).…see the entire review in the print version of December’s Sculpture magazine.
